Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Frank A. Wollheim

  • Erik Jorpes: from Kökar to Helsingfors, Moscow, and Stockholm

    Frank A. WollheimLund, Sweden Johan Erik Johansson was born in 1894 in Jorpesgården in the village of Overbroad on the small, barren island of Kökar in the archipelago of Åland, a Swedish-speaking part of Finland. His father, Johan Eriksson, was a fisherman and his mother struggled on the lean, arable farm. When Erik was six…

  • Torsten Almén 1931-2016. Inventor of non-ionized contrast media.

    Frank Wollheim Lund, Sweden There were no signs of genius to impress us in any of the medical students at Lund in the fall of 1950, and certainly not in Torsten Almen. He seemed rather ordinary, somewhat shy and stuttering; and it was a well kept secret that he was a good pianist and an accomplished…

  • Dr. Wedekind’s son: A Frank story

    Frank WollheimSweden What is in a name, and how does it come to us? This vignette shares the story of the son of a German gynecologist and how his impact influenced two medical students in 1918 Munich, eventually leading to the name of my mother’s first child—also a physician—Frank. German-born American citizen and gynecologist Friedrich…

  • Surgeon and ambassador of the humanities: Homage à Grace and Philip Sandblom

    Frank Wollheim I realized early on in medical school that I had no talent to become a surgeon. Yet I remember the professor of surgery in Lund, Philip Sandblom (1903-2001), as one of my most significant teachers and introducers to the humanities.  The seventh term of our curriculum was entirely devoted to a clerkship in…