Dr. Norman A. Bergman

Born in 1926 in Seattle, Washington, Dr. Bergman received his B.A. degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, in 1949 and his M.D. from the University of Oregon in 1951. After residency in anesthesiology at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City (1951-54), he started working his way up the academic ladder at Columbia University (1954-58), at the University of Utah (1958-70) and finally became Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology (1970-89). His research interest throughout these two decades included many appointments as visiting research associate in Great Britain in research centers such as Northwick Park, the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Hammer-Smith Hospital and Post-graduate Medical School, as well as at the Karolinska Sjukhuset in Stockholm.

His research experiences in the physiology of respiration at these institutions, when added to similar research in pulmonary physiology at his own department in Portland, soon made him internationally recognized and respected as an expert in this area of physiology. His experiences in England also formed the foundation for work that came to make his name famous – the publication of his magnum opus: Genesis of Surgical Anesthesia, a masterful and definitive review of foundations upon which anesthesia was based before the introduction of ether anesthesia in 1846.

Lamentably, Dr. Bergman died after his election as Laureate in 1999 and before October 2000 when his investiture as Laureate was to take place. His investiture however, was still held in October 2000, at the ASA Annual Meeting. The presentation of his Laureate medal, Laureate scroll and honorarium was made to his family