Povl Riis

Professor
Povl Riis
FRCP
Born(1925-12-28)28 December 1925
Died2 January 2017(2017-01-02) (aged 91)
NationalityDanish
Alma materUniversity of Copenhagen
OccupationGastroenterologist
EmployerUniversity of Copenhagen

Povl Riis FRCP (1925-2017) was a Danish gastroenterologist.[1]

Biography

Riis was born on 28 December 1925.[2]

In 1956 he used, for the first time, amniocentesis to make an antenatal diagnosis of genetic disease.[3]

Riis also served as chair of National Research Ethics Committee of Denmark, from its creation in 1979, until 1998.[4] He wrote the second version of the Helsinki Declaration of Human Research in 1975 with Prof. Bloomquist (Sweden) and Prof. Engers (Norway). He is also a founding member of Vancouver Group of Medical Editors.[citation needed]

Riis received his M.D. from the University of Copenhagen in 1952 and DM Sci in 1959. He served there as a professor of medicine from 1974-96. He was physician-in-chief of the medical department of the Gentofte Hospital, Copenhagen from 1963 to 1976,[4] and physician-in-chief for gastroenterology at the Herlev University Hospital, Copenhagen, from 1976 to 1996.[4]

He was also vice president of the European Science Foundation from 1974–77 and the Chairman of the Danish Medical Research Council from 1972-77.[5]

He was editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Danish Medical Association from 1957 to 1991.[4]

He served on the Journal of the American Medical Association's editorial board from 1994; and as chair of the Nordic Cooperative Board for Medical Science from 1970 to 1972; of the Danish National Sciences Ethical Committee for Medicine from 1979–98; and of the Age Forum from 1996.[4]

He died on 2 January 2017.[2]

References

  1. ^ Rogers, Arthur; Durand de Bousingen, Denis (1995). Bioethics in Europe. Council of Europe. p. 218. ISBN 978-92-871-2566-8.
  2. ^ a b "Munks Roll Details for Povl Riis". Munks Roll. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  3. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (4 March 1995). Dr. Fritz Fuchs, 76, Who Advanced Obstetrics, The New York Times ("Dr. Fuchs and a Danish colleague, Povl Riis, reported in 1960 that they had successfully performed amniocentesis to diagnose male fetuses at risk for hemophilia and muscular dystrophy.")
  4. ^ a b c d e Reynolds L A, Tansey E M. (eds) (2007) Medical ethics education in Britain, 1963–93, Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 31. p. 187 London: The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL.ISBN 978-0-85484-113-4
  5. ^ Facing the Future Together - 2005 Conference - CVs, European Commission, Retrieved 29 August 2011