Woman of the Year in Academic Circles

Unnur Anna Valdimarsdóttir, a professor at the University of Iceland's Faculty of Medicine and director at the Centre of Public Health Sciences has been chosen the woman of the year in academic circles by the board of women in academia (Félag háskólakvenna).

The association was formed in 1928 and on its 89th anniversary earlier this year it was decided to honour one woman in academic circles annually for her contribution to society. Nominations came from members and the university community for women who have excelled in their fields and thus been an example to others.

Unnur Anna Valdimarsdóttir was selected, she is a professor at the University of Iceland's Faculty of Medicine. An announcement from the association states:

"Unnur Anna has been party to numerous research in the last 20 years, many of which have focused on the effects of crises on people's health. She has received large research grants to study the interaction between genetics and health consequences of serious traumatic events; just recently a 2 million Euro grant from the European Research Council. The grant is an important recognition of her scientific contribution. Her contribution to science is undisputed and her research results have been published in some of the most prestigious journals in her field in the world.

Unnur Anna completed a BA degree in psychology in 1996 and a doctoral degree in clinical epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute in 2003. She has been a professor at the University of Iceland since 2012 and was vice-president of the Faculty of Medicine from 2013-2017. She has been director of the Centre of Public Health Sciences at the University of Iceland since 2007. Furthermore, Unnur Anna has been employed at the Harvard School of Public Health since 2009.

The association of women in academia was founded in 1928, and will thus celebrate their 90th anniversary next year. Much has changed in regards to education in Iceland during these 89 years and circumstances for women in academia have changed drastically since the founding of the association. The founding members were only five, which reveals how few women were in academic circles at that time. Many women in academia have succeeded in their fields of study and won many triumphs unknown to the public. By instituting this new tradition to honour one woman in academia annually from now on for her contribution to society the association wants to acknowledge and draw attention to the diverse achievements of their members in order to encourage other women in academia.