Fun facts about the faculty: Ingrid von Staffeldt

At 20:25, on an April evening exactly 60 years ago, the first ever kidney transplant in Denmark begins. There is deep concentration at Aarhus Municipal Hospital, where ten doctors are ready to push the limits of medical science. One of them is anaesthesiologist Ingrid von Staffeldt; the only woman in the operating theatre and something of a pioneer. Did you know that…

Black-and-white photo of a young Ingrid von Staffeldt, sitting hunched over her books in her room.
Medical student Ingrid – maiden name Vernegaard Jensen – is studying in her room at Marselisborg Studentergaard in 1943. She lived here for her first academic year. The four photos above the radiator are of medical professors giving lectures. Photo: AU Universitetshistorie

... Ingrid von Staffeldt was the first female consultant at Aarhus Municipal Hospital?

At the age of 27, she graduated as a medical doctor from Aarhus University, where she later became an associate professor and taught anaesthesiology to medical students. Anaesthesiology became her medical speciality, and in 1962 she became a consultant at the Department of Anaesthesiology and the first female consultant at the municipal hospital.

... Nobel Laureate Jens Christian Skou and von Staffeldt were neighbours?

The municipal hospital had several medical residences in Barthsgade on Trøjborg, close to both the hospital and the university. Here, the two pioneers, who were almost the same age, lived side by side for a number of years, and while they were at work, their daughters played together.

... Ingrid von Staffeldt's granddaughter works in the PhD Administration at Health?

Her name is Mia Maychrzak, and to her Ingrid von Staffeldt was simply 'grandma'.  Although Mia has a humanities degree, she now receives PhD dissertations on everything from CRISPR to new treatments for kidney diseases and cancer.