At only 29 years old, Guðrún Nína Óskarsdóttir has become the youngest among Icelandic surgeons to earn a PhD degree, reports Vísir . What makes the story even more remarkable is that Guðrún Nína’s husband, father and two sisters are all also doctors.
Guðrún Nína comes from the town of Selfoss in South Iceland, but now lives in Lund, Sweden, along with her husband Árni Sæmundsson, a specialist in urinary tract surgery, and their two sons, six-year-old Guðjón Steinar and three-year-old Sæmundur Óskar.
Guðrún Nína recently returned to Iceland to defend her doctoral thesis at the University of Iceland, which she completed under the supervision of thoracic surgeon Tómas Guðbjartsson. Her doctoral thesis was titled, ‘Outcomes following pulmonary resections for lung cancer in Iceland—survival in subgroups of patients.’
“We found information on all patients who have undergone lung cancer surgery in Iceland in the last 24 years. The short-term prognosis was very good in Iceland and the long-term outlook similar to that in comparable foreign countries and hospitals,” explained Guðrún Nína.
As mentioned above, Guðrún Nína comes from a medical family as her father, Óskar Reykdalsson, is a doctor and her sisters Sigríður Erla and Margrét are an ophthalmologist and child neurologist, respectively. Her brother Guðjón has a master’s degree in pharmacy. The sole exception in her family is her mother—a teacher.
“This is an interesting job, you learn a lot and can help people with the problems they are facing. So perhaps we all find it interesting and fun, as you have to think carefully and deliberate over solutions before you act,” explained Guðrún Nína.
