Jan Gösta Waldenström and His World

Frank Wollheim attended medical school in Lund and was an undergraduate medical student in Malmö, where Jan Waldenström was a charismatic teacher. He accepted an invitation to start work in Waldenström's department in 1959, selecting gammopathies as his field of research, soon presenting evidence for a heredity factoring what is now named common variegated hypogammaglobulinemia. From 1963, he worked as an instructor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota on polyclonal and monoclonal gammopathies, in particular IgAand IgM. Back in Malmö, from 1966 he spent two years at the Department of Clinical Chemistry and defended his Ph.D. thesis there in 1968. Once more in the department of Dr. Waldenström, he became a specialist in internal medicine in 1968 and, in 1969, in rheumatology. From 1972 to 1882, he was the Director of the Division of Rheumatology in the department. In 1982, he was an appointed professor and a chairman of the independent Department of Rheumatology in Lund, where he continues to work as the emeritus professor.

• A remarkable family.- Childhood and student years.-  Letters to a special friend.- The red urine story.- Assistant professor in Uppsala.- A trip to USA in 1944-5.- The seminal discovery of two new diseases.- Turbulent final years in Uppsala.- The “great” medical faculty.-  Allmänna sjukhuset (Malmö General Hospital).- Professor and chairman in Malmö.- Autoimmune hepatitis.- The charismatic leader.- The carcinoid syndrome.- Start of a golden Age.- Hypergammaglobulinemia. The Jewel in the Crown.- Porphyria.- Inga Marie Nilsson - Queen of hemophilia.- Carl-Bertil Laurell.- The Division of cardiology.- Endocrinology.-  Hematology in Sweden and in the world.- The light comes from the east.- Visits and visitors.- Nobel symposium III.- Emeritus professor.- New activities in Stockholm.- Jan Waldenström, globetrotter- Macroglobulinemia – an update.- Happy emeritus years.-  The final years and the legacy.