Dr Norman Avika Bergman
Personal details
Dr Norman Avika Bergman BA MD FFARCS
14/10/1926 to 14/11/1999
Place of birth: Seattle, Washington, USA
Nationality: American
CRN: 524838
Subsequent title: Professor
Education and qualifications
|
General education |
Schooling unknown; Reed College, Portland, Oregon; University of Oregon Medical School |
|---|---|
|
Primary medical qualification(s) |
MD, Oregon, 1951 |
|
Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Election |
|
Year of Fellowship |
1976 |
|
Other qualification(s) |
BA, Reed College, 1949 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
Dr Bergman was an intern at the Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, undertook his residency in anaesthesia at Columbia in New York, and remained on the faculty there until he became chief of anesthesia at the Veterans Administration Hospital and University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1958. He spent a research year (1963-4) at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, was appointed the University of Utah’s first professor of anesthesia in 1970, and later that year became chairman at the University of Oregon’s Medical School in Eugene. He resigned this post in 1981 to return to London, also spending some time at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm before finishing his career back in the USA at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon. He retired formally in1989, but retained a connection with the University until his death.
Professional interests and activities
Bergman developed research interests early in his career, his main topics being pulmonary gas exchange (the subject of his work in London), education, and the history of anaesthesia; he lectured & published widely on all aspects. His work on history, focussed on events prior to 1846 and continued after his retirement, his book on the subject winning the David M Little Award of the Anesthesia History Association (1999). He was named one of the Wood Library-Museum’s Laureates of the History of Anesthesia for 2000.
Other biographical information
Before medical school (1944-6) he was a sergeant in the medical section of the US Army, and after qualifying was a reserve officer in the Medical Corps (1951-1970), serving as chief of anesthesia in the 328th General Hospital (1959-70) and attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Married to Betty for 48 years, they had a son and a daughter.
Author and Sources
Author:
Dr Bob Palmer
Sources and Comments:
[1] Obituary. History of Anaesthesia Society Proceedings, 1999; 26: 62-3
[2] Please use link https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/laureate/view/2/dr.-norman-a.-bergman where a photograph may be found.