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Staffan RB Nordqvist MD PhD
Staffan was born in Lund, Sweden, and spent his preschool years on the west coast in the shadow of World War II, watching the bombing of Denmark from behind boarded windows. Although Sweden remaine...view moreStaffan was born in Lund, Sweden, and spent his preschool years on the west coast in the shadow of World War II, watching the bombing of Denmark from behind boarded windows. Although Sweden remained neutral and did not participate in the war, those were difficult times with limited supply of food and other life necessities. At age seven, he moved with his parents to Stockholm, where he lived through high school. Staffan was a loved but unplanned child. He was a descendant of a very prominent academic family but always felt he was not expected to amount to much. His great ambition was to prove everybody wrong.
He became an excellent student athlete and showed great talent as an aspiring actor. The theater was for a long time his dream career. He was successful, but eventually medicine became his calling. Being a doctor would promise a more certain livelihood.
He was admitted to medical school at the University of Lund at nineteen. We follow his life as a student, actor, and young doctor rapidly climbing the academic ladder to become a cancer specialist. Since childhood, Staffan had a maybe somewhat naive fascination with America, the land of possibilities in the far west. When he, at age thirty-five, received an invitation from New York City to be a visiting professor at Cornel Medical School and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he convinced his wife that they should accept and emigrate with their three children.
Life in the United States had many unexpected surprises, both professionally and personally, some difficult to overcome. Competition was fierce; friends turned to foes. He learned to navigate past most obstacles, and after six years as a professor at the University of Miami, he founded Gynecologic Oncology Associates in the city as the first board-certified specialist in private practice in Florida and lived his American dream. He takes us on his journey with humor, sincerity and a good portion of cynicism of certain aspects of life in America and it’s fragmented health care.view less