Sten Harris died yesterday, after a long time of illness. Sten worked at Rikshospitalet for many years, operating most of the CI-operations up until now. He was a true CI-pioneer in Norway.
His illness and following death is probably one of the reasons that Rikshospitalet has problems with the capacity of performing CI-operations these days. Add that to the budgetary cuts made recently, and it is not difficult to understand that it will be hard to find a replacement.
Sten Harris last act as the leading medical surgeon at the Otolaryngology-departement at Rikshospitalet was to object to the severe budget cut by resigning from his position in protest.
He also appears in the news-video where I also appeared (video is posted permanently on the top left side of this blog).
He has also through the years been an advocate for bilateral-CI and other operations that helped many people to a better life. He participated in debates to the last (art.), and was involved in crucial research over the years, thus driving the development and understanding of CI and related subjects forward: “Researchers Ona Boe Wie and Sten Harris from the University of Oslo presented findings on the effect of bilateral cochlear implantation on spoken language skills in children from five months to 18 months old.”.
I did not get to meet him, but from what I’m told, he was a fantastic person. And I googled him and found numerous examples of his dedication to the cause of hearing/deafness.
Sten Harris, you will be remembered by many, many people. This is my post-mortem salute to you.
May you Rest In Peace
May 11, 2008 at 12:12 pm
This is such a sad day
May 11, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Our dear friend Sten has passed. He has been a wonderful friend and colleague for many years. We send our deepest sympathies to Eva nd the family of Sten. He was an international scholar and leader in the area of cochlear implants. Anne Beiter and Jon Shallop, Rochester, Minnesota USA
May 11, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Det er et stort tomrom etter deg, Sten. Savner din faglige tyngde, ditt varme smil og gode humør. Fred over ditt minne!
May 16, 2008 at 7:23 am
Idag hadde jeg kontroll av en av dine siste pasienter, Sten. Jeg skulle gjerne ha delt denne opplevelsen med deg. Strålende resultat! Glad og fornøyd pasient som allerede har sagt sine første ord. Du har satt spor etter deg!
May 17, 2008 at 8:45 am
Du reddet livet mitt i 2004. Etter alvorlig bilulykke i 2002 med komplisert og bilateralt brudd i indre øre, fikk jeg til slutt kyndig hjelp hos deg. Ingen andre leger/kriurger hadde mot eller ekspertise til å ta fatt på den vanskelige og nøysommelige jobben. Jeg hadde vært sengeliggende i halvtannet år før jeg til slutt var så heldig å møte deg. Etter flere kompliserte kirurgiske inngrep kom jeg på bena igjen i 2005.
Du vil ALDRI bli glemt av meg og min familie. Vi er deg evig takknemlig. Hvil i fred kjære Sten Harris. Mvh Carina Weidemann Nordstrøm
January 5, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I’ve just accidentally found this item and it saddens me greatly, even though I knew that Sten was seriously ill.
Sten was a nice man, a great surgeon and has left this world far, far too early.
RIP Sten.
Rory
February 26, 2009 at 4:17 pm
<52121
November 19, 2009 at 10:52 am
This is my grandfather