Ola Didrik Saugstad

Ola Didrik Saugstad
Born (1947-03-05) 5 March 1947 (age 77)[1]
NationalityNorwegian
Alma materUniversity of Oslo
Known forResearch on resuscitation of newborn children
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine (pediatrics, neonatology)
InstitutionsUniversity of Oslo
Doctoral advisorGösta Rooth

Ola Didrik Saugstad (born 5 March 1947) is a Norwegian pediatrician, neonatologist and neuroscientist noted for his research on resuscitation of newborn children and his contribution to reduce child mortality.[2] He is a Research Professor at Oslo University Hospital and Professor of Neonatology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. He is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at the University of Oslo and was Director of the Department of Pediatric Research at Oslo University Hospital from 1991 to 2017.[1][3]

Christian P. Speer and Henry L. Halliday described Saugstad as a "world renowned expert in neonatal medicine," particularly on hypoxia and purine metabolism, hypoxia-reoxygenation injury, the effect and mechanisms of oxygen radicals in the neonatal period, mechanisms of lung injury and newborn resuscitation.[4] In 2010, international guidelines for newborn resuscitation were amended, based on the research of Saugstad and his colleagues, to recommend the use of air in place of pure oxygen, a discovery that is estimated to save the lives of 200,000 newborn children each year.[5] He is an advisor to the World Health Organization on child mortality. Saugstad has been cited over 30,000 times in scientific literature.[6] The NRK describes him as "the most internationally recognized and most widely cited Norwegian pediatrician of all times."[2]

Saugstad received the 2012 Nordic Medical Prize, is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and became a Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 2010. His 2019 book Kampen om oksygenet ("The War Over Oxygen") discusses what he describes as "one [of] the greatest scandals in the history of medicine;"[7] former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik introduced the book when it was released at the House of Literature in Oslo.[8]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference snl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nrk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Prisdryss til professor Ola Didrik Saugstad
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference SpeerHalliday was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Elin Fugelsnes, Kan redde 200 000 nyfødte, forskning.no, 19 October 2010
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference GScholar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Saugstad, Ola Didrik (2019). Kampen om oksygenet. Lunde.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference MV was invoked but never defined (see the help page).