Rolf Seljelid (1934 – 13 June 2023) was a Norwegian physician.
Hailing from Levanger, Seljelid took the cand.med. degree at the University of Bergen in 1959 and the dr.med. degree at the Karolinska Institute in 1966. He was a docent at the Karolinska Institute, and also a guest researcher at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, before becoming a chief physician at the Radium Hospital. In 1972 he was appointed as a professor of pathology at the newly founded University of Tromsø. He was the dean of the Faculty of Medicine from 1975 to 1977.[1] He was a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.[2]
Seljelid has been credited for instituting the idea that Norway should cultivate young elite researchers to a larger degree. His inspiration came from the strenuous Norwegian efforts to cultivate young elite sportspeople.[1] [3] [4]
He was a long-term consultant for Biotec Pharmacon, later renamed Arctic Zymes Technologies.[5] He was also a newspaper columnist in Nordlys.[1] After holding a series of causeries in NRK radio in 1983–84, they were issued in the book Men noen stener kan fly and published by Universitetsforlaget.[6]
Following his retirement in 2004,[1] he mainly resided at Ursvik, Nesodden. He died at the age of 89 and was buried at Nesodden.[7]