Mette Deleuran, Klaus Ejner Andersen and Anders Vahlquist – Obituary: Professor, DMSc Kristian Thestup-Pedersen
Kristian was a great friend of Nordic collaboration. Among many things he took the initiative to jointly propose the Nordic countries as hosts for a World Congress of Dermatology in 2002 with Bella Center in Copenhagen as congress site; the so called“ Nordic Bid for WCD”. Kristian, with his great experience in networking all over the world, worked very hard on this project and came up with the wonderful idea that at least 1 / 3 of the expected profit from a WCD in Copenhagen would be donated to the International Dermatology Foundation in support of the ILDS-sponsored teaching unit in Tanzania. This“ forced” the organisers of the Paris bid to add a similar promise into their bid when presented in Sydney 1997 before the election of the next congress site was made. In the end, however, Paris was a too strong competitor and they organized a wonderful WCD in 2002.
As a most distinguished researcher in the field of dermato-venereology with a great knowledge also in basic immunology, Kristian was already in the 1980ies appointed as a board member of the ESDR and eventually elected as the President of the society. For this and his continued engagement in ESDR and other international collaborations, he was later awarded Honorary Membership of the society.
He was a very generous man, and everyone who met him, remember this.
Kristian is survived by his beloved wife Grethe, children Thomas and Louise and their families.
All of us who knew him will always feel we have lost a very special friend and motivator, and our thoughts are with Grethe and the family.
Mette Deleuran, Chair Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Aarhus University Hospital.
Klaus Ejner Andersen, Professor Department of Dermatology and Allergy Centre, and Centre for Innovative Medical Technology, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark
Anders Vahlquist, Emeritus Professor Dermatology and Venereology, Uppsala University, and Editor-in-Chief, Acta Dermato-Venereologica
116 Obituary Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2016, Vol. 21, No. 4