Hart Hansen Award

Support for emerging circumpolar health researchers and health workers.

Every three years, each adhering body will nominate—and with the help of the Jens Peder Hart Hanson Memorial Fund (JPHHMF)—support emerging circumpolar health workers to encourage their continued efforts to improve circumpolar health. This fund will emphasize support of indigenous workers, as defined by each adhering body, within the spirit that gives everyone the opportunity to compete on equal terms.

Dr. Jens Hart Hansen

1936 – 1998

Born to a family of physicians, Dr. Hansen earned his medical degree from the University of Copenhagen in 1962. His interest in the North was piqued in 1955 when he had the opportunity to join a geodetic expedition to Iceland. In 1965, Dr. Hansen visited Greenland as a military physician aboard a Danish inspection vessel patrolling the Greenland Waters.

Dr. Hansen was passionate about the Arctic and the people who live there. As secretary-general of the 5th ICCH, which was held in Copenhagen in 1981, Dr. Hansen developed contacts in the Artic and Antarctic scientific communities. He served as president of the International Union for Circumpolar Health from 1987 – 1993, and initiated many important projects on circumpolar health.

A respected pioneer in Greenlandic research and Arctic medicine, Dr. Hansen received the Jack Hildes Medal for excellence in Arctic medicine as a token of his colleagues’ appreciation, gratitude and admiration.

Dr. Hansen took great pride and joy in being with his family—his wife Susanne and their children Jesper, Marianne, Birgitte and Anne-Louise.

Past Winners

  • 2015 – Nathaniel Pollock – Oulu
  • 2012 – Tracey Galloway – Fairbanks
  • 2009 – Julie Renee Bull – Yellowknife
  • 2006 – Audrey Steenbeek – Novosibirsk