Burns 3, 261 Printed in Great Britain 261

Obituary Professor Tord Skoog

PROFESSOR TORD SKOOG died suddenly on 23 January, 1977, following a second cardiac infarction. He had been one of the pioneers of Scandinavian plastic surgery.

In 1948 he was appointed Lecturer in Plastic Surgery at Akademiska Sjukhuset (University Hospital) in Uppsala and there he created a plastic surgery unit which covered all facets of the specialty. He inspired research in all aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery and as a result the clinic became internationally renowned and later gave rise to the Tord Skoog Society.

As a result of his training in England and the United States he introduced plastic surgery into Sweden as a specialty just after World War II. He became Scandinavian First Professor of

Plastic Surgery, thus making it an academic specialty, and he founded plastic surgery units in all the Swedish university hospitals.

He took a great interest in the management of the cleft lip and palate, in cosmetic problems and in hand surgery, particularly Dupuytren con- tractures. His unconventional thinking and creative talents, his clinical competence and surgical skill are well demonstrated in his last book Plastic Surgery: New Methods and Refine- ments, published in 1975. The readers of this journal will doubtless be aware of his great monograph The Surgical Treatment of Burns, published in 1963.

He created the Burns Unit in Uppsala as part of the Department of Plastic Surgery of the University Hospital, and his name now stands as a criterion of quality to all doctors treating burns.

In the course of 30 years Tord had turned what was a new subject into a respected countrywide and indeed universal discipline. He served on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Burn Injuries for many years and as a result of the high regard in which he was held he was appointed Chairman of the Scandinavian Associa- tion for Plastic Surgeons, which is cooperating in the 5th International Congress on Burns, due to take place in Stockholm in 1978.

He was a credit to his country and to his profession and there are many friends throughout the world who will mourn him. Let us pay tribute to his memory.

B.S.