On Monday the 7th of October 2002 an agreement on cooperation was signed with the District General Hospital in Akureyri (FSA) where FSA is defined as a university hospital. Halldór Jónsson, hospital director, signed the agrement on behalf of FSA, and Þorsteinn Gunnarsson, rector, on behalf of the University of Akureyri. The agreement on cooperation discloses i.a. that the parties to it agree on the establishment of a research institute within the Faculty of Health Sciences of HA. The institute is to be known as the Institution of Health Science Research, University of Akureyri. The agreement i.a. includes provisions on the role of the institute and the demands made of its staff. In continuation of the agreement a regulation was prepared relating to the Institution of Health Science Research.
The University Council of UNAK agreed on the regulations applicable to HHA on 20 June 2003, published as regulation no. 876 on 20 November in 2003. The regulations can be obtained at: http://brunnur.stjr.is/mrn/logogregl.nsf/nrar/reglur8762003
The first staff members of the institution apart from management members were hired in spring of 2004. These employees are Þorvaldur Ingvarsson, consultant orthopedic surgeon and medical director at Akureyri General District Hospital, appointed to a professorial post, and Alexander Smárason, specialist in gynecology, appointed to the post of senior lecturer. In the year 2006 Björn Gunnarsson, specialist in pediatrics and pediatric intensive care, and Brynjólfur Ingvarsson, specialist in psychiatry, were appointed lecturers at the institution for terms of three years. In other words the institute now has filled one professorial position, one of senior lecturer and two lecturer positions.
Future view and policy for the Institution of Health Science Research
