Ole Petter Ottersen

Ole Petter Ottersen, 2010

Ole Petter Ottersen (born 17 March 1955) is a Norwegian physician and neuroscientist. He is Professor of medicine and currently serves as the elected Rector of the University of Oslo (since 2009).^[1] He is also chairman of the board of the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (since 2013).

Career

Ottersen graduated with the cand.med. degree at the University of Oslo in 1980 and with the dr.med. degree at the same university in 1982. He was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Oslo from 1978 to 1983 and a prosector (i.e. reader) at the same institute from 1983 to 1992. He was promoted to Professor in 1992.

Leadership roles and university politics

He has been head of department of the Institute of Anatomy (1997–1999), Pro-Dean for Research of the Faculty of Medicine (2000–2002) and director of the Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Oslo (2002–2009), a centre of excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway.^[2]

In 2009, he was elected as the new rector of the University of Oslo, while Inga Bostad was elected as the Pro-Rector.^[3][4] In 2013, he was reelected for a second term, while Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld was elected as the new Pro-Rector. Fjeld resigned from her office in 2014, citing a dispute with Ottersen.^[5][6][7][8]

He attended the Bilderberg Group meeting in 2011.^[9] In 2013, he became chairman of the board of the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions.

Research

His research field is neuroscience. He is particularly noted for his research on molecular mechanisms involved in the development of acute and chronic neurodegenerative disease, with a special emphasis on the role of cellular water balance and glutamate excitotoxicity.

In 2001 he, together with Jon Storm-Mathisen and Per Brandtzæg, was found to be the most cited Norwegian scholar in international academic journals.^[10] According to Google Scholar, he has been cited over 31,000 times in scientific literature and has an h-index of 92.^[11] From 2002, he was included in the Institute of Scientific Information list of "Highly Cited Researchers."

Awards

He received the Anders Jahre Medical Prize for young scientists in 1990. In 2005 he won the Lundbeck Foundation's research prize together with Jon Storm-Mathisen.^[2] In 2008 he won the Anders Jahre Award for Medical Research^[12] He has been a member of the committee that awards the latter prize.^[13] He became an honorary doctor at the University of Kuopio A.I.Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences in 2010.^[14]

References

1. Ole Petter Ottersen University of Oslo website, retrieved 27 March 2013
2. "1,5 millioner til hjerneforskere ved UiO" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 25 February 2005.
3. Topdahl, Rolv Christian (16 February 2009). "Liten rift om rektorjobb". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 12 March 2009.
4. Eik, Espen A. (3 April 2009). "Ottersen ny rektor". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 10 April 2009.
5. Valgt og satt på sidelinja, Klassekampen, 22. mai 2014
6. «Trekker seg etter langvarig mangel på arbeidsoppgaver» i Uniforum 6. mai 2014
7. Trakk seg som prorektor – reagerer på UiOs versjon, Uniforum
8. «Vi bør si minst mulig» – Studenter i opprør – krever nyvalg, Klassekampen, 23. mai 2014
9. Letter på Bilderberg-sløret, Verdens Gang, 12 June 2011
10. "Oslo-forskere topper internasjonal sitatliste" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 16 January 2001.
11. "Ole Petter Ottersen," Google Scholar
12. "Jahre-pris til Ole Petter Ottersen" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 12 August 2008.
13. "Jahrepris til professor Terje Lømo" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 10 October 2003.
14. http://www2.uef.fi/en/promootio/kunniatohtorit2010