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Peter Laurberg (Wuhan, China, 2014; Photo: Peter Kopp).
Peter M. Laurberg, Professor and Chief Physician, DMSc, Aalborg, Denmark, died on June 20th just after his 71st birthday on June 14th.
Grete and Peter Laurberg, Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen (from left to right; 27th Annual Meeting of the European Thyroid Association, Warsaw 2001).
Peter was a professor in internal medicine, first at Aarhus University, later at Aalborg University when a separate medical school was established there. He took his professorship very seriously, and spread his enthusiasm for clinical work in endocrinology and medicine to younger colleagues, and became a highly esteemed and loved tutor and mentor for many young researchers over four decades. He actively took part in their personal scientific career development and has been described by many as an exceptional role model and “second father.” He always had his door open for discussions with any of them, and his group thus thrived and fostered many important theses.
Peter was not only an excellent clinician and tutor, but also managed to be the driving force within several important research areas. Very early during his clinical training he met a colleague from Iceland, with whom he entered a unique and prosperous research collaboration studying the prevalence of various thyroid diseases in Denmark and Iceland, respectively—two countries with greatly different iodine intake (2). One of Peter's pivotal achievements was heading the national iodine fortification program, and he was instrumental in establishing the DanThyr-group through which he pushed the Danish Food Authorities to implement the program in 2000 (3).
Many of Peter's other publications earned international recognition and praise, and not only in the thyroid field; his research spanned several other diseases, including pituitary conditions, where he was also considered an international expert. However, his main interests were always within the many aspects of thyroid diseases and environmental influences, and in recent years with particular emphasis on the influence of thyroid function disturbances during pregnancy. He left a significant footprint in many international guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of several thyroid conditions.
Grete and Peter Laurberg (International Symposium on Environment and Endocrine Disorders, Ilulissat, Greenland, March 23–25, 2007. Photo: Folke Söderström).
Peter's dedication was not only national, but very early in his career he became actively involved in several international scientific organizations. He became well known for his dedication, focus, inspiration and knowledge, as well as hard work. He was a highly appreciated active participant in many committees and boards of international scientific societies. He was also highly visible when teaching at international postgraduate courses, in particular in Eastern Europe, with a dedicated aim to increase the level of expertise of specialists, and also to establish contact and collaboration among different scientific cultures and traditions. He was past President of The European Thyroid Association, from which he received several prizes for his research and served as Associate Editor of the European Thyroid Journal, as well as other international journal boards. At scientific meetings, he was always very active and an eminent speaker. He often offered intelligent, thoughtful and provoking questions during the meetings, and most colleagues will probably agree that we will all miss his “Laurberg, Aalborg” only sometimes superfluously adding “Denmark” when he went to the microphone – or his “yeah, yeah” when agreeing.
Peter was given many awards and distinctions during his career. To mention just a few of them: Honorary Professor at China Medical University, Shenyang, China; George Murray Lecture of the British Thyroid Association in 2007; and recently he was bestowed with an honorary membership of The Danish Thyroid Association, of which he was one of the cofounders. Peter was, thus, an enormous initiator and driving force, an inspiring teacher and mentor for many colleagues, and a very good and loyal friend. He was appreciated for his noble and kind personality, and his great sense of humor and critical sense. With this enormous professional energy, it is difficult to understand that Peter was most of all a family man, and traveled around the world with his wife, Grete, and their four children in an old rebuilt Volkswagen Transporter in their younger days, and still found time to travel with his family, recently including nine grandchildren. He also found room to become an excellent golf player and showed keen interest in other cultures during his countless professional travels, very often accompanied by his wife, life companion and best friend, Grete.
Peter was on one of his numerous professional travels at a teaching course in Tbilisi, Georgia, with his wife when he was tragically and sadly killed by a car during an evening stroll with his wife. Our thoughts go to Grete, their four children and their families, for whom the loss is unbearable. We have lost a loved colleague and a cherished friend. We miss him and find it incomprehensible that he is no longer among us.