Guðrún Agnarsdóttir (born 1941) is an Icelandic politician and physician. She served in the

Alþingi The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what la ...

from 1983 to 1990 as a member of the

Women's List The Women's List or Women's Alliance (), also called Kvennalistinn and abbreviated KL, was a feminist political party in Iceland that took part in national politics from 1983 to 1999. The party held three seats in the parliament elected in 1983, ...

, and ran for the presidency of Iceland in 1996. She was CEO of Iceland's cancer society from 1992 to 2009, when she retired to spend time with her family and to continue farming forests.

Early life and education

Guðrún Agnarsdóttir was born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

to Agnar Guðmundsson and Birna Petersen on 2 June 1941. In 1961 and 1968, she earned degrees from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

. In university, only five percent of the students were women. For the next two years, she worked in hospitals, before receiving further education at

Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, London, White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the ...

and the

Royal Postgraduate Medical School The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS) was an independent medical school, based primarily at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. In 1988, the school merged with the Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and in 1997 became part of Imperial ...

over the next eleven. She received her Icelandic medical license in 1978, and her British medical license in 1981.

Career

She served in the Alþingi from 1983 to 1990; for the first four years, she was elected at the national level, and for the last three, she represented

. She was a member of the

. She worked on issues relating to rape,

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, and the medical sciences. In the 1996 Icelandic presidential election, Guðrún was a candidate as a member of the Women's List. She said she ran to make Iceland "a model society ... where all individuals matter". She was the only woman to run, and lost to

Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson Ólafur () is a common name in Iceland, derived from the Old Norse Óláfr , meaning "ancestor's relic". According to Icelandic custom, people are generally referred to by first and middle names and patronyms are used if disambiguation is require ...

with around 25 percent of the vote. She sent Ólafur congratulations, and he sent her thanks for her work during the campaign. The Women's List doubled in representation in the Alþingi, from three to six members. Guðrún is a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. She met her husband, Helgi Þröstur Valdimarsson, in her early career as a doctor. From 1988 to 1992, she was a member of the executive board of the cancer society of Iceland, and from 1992 to 2009, was its CEO; she retired to spend time with her grandchildren and continue forest farming.

Later life

In 2018, her husband died. In 2021, Guðrún said that she no longer regretted losing the presidential election.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agnarsdóttir, Guðrún 1941 births Gudrún Agnarsdóttir Gudrún Agnarsdóttir 20th-century physicians 20th-century women physicians Gudrún Agnarsdóttir Gudrún Agnarsdóttir Living people Gudrún Agnarsdóttir Gudrún Agnarsdóttir Gudrún Agnarsdóttir Gudrún Agnarsdóttir