Mads Gilbert Norwegian physician, humanitarian, activist and Red Party politician Date of Birth: 02.06.1947 Country: Norway

Content:

1. Early Life and Education
2. Political Involvement
3. Medical Career
4. Humanitarian Work
5. Gilbert has also volunteered on a kibbutz in Israel.
6. Personal Life
7. Publications

Early Life and Education

Mads Gilbert was born on June 2, 1947, in Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway, of French Huguenot descent. His father, Mads Fredrik Gilbert, was an electrician, while his mother was a nurse. The family later moved to a one-room apartment in Oslo with his grandmother, and Gilbert grew up in the Majorstua and Lambertseter neighborhoods of Oslo until the age of 10.

In the mid-1960s, Gilbert attended the Oslo Cathedral School. After graduating from high school, he briefly studied veterinary medicine but switched to general medicine after an accident involving his younger brother. He graduated from the University of Oslo in 1973.

Gilbert has described growing up in a "very political home," where there were frequent political discussions. He characterizes his parents as having been globally aware and his father, in particular, as well-read. He credits his mother with inspiring him to think critically and to be an advocate for the underdog.

Political Involvement

Gilbert's political activism was sparked by the Vietnam War, and he initially became a member of the Vietnam Solidarity Committee (Solkom). He later joined the Marxist-Leninist SUF(m-l) and the Maoist AKP(m-l), and was an active member (the latter party admitted only "active members") throughout the 1970s.

Gilbert is currently a member of the revolutionary socialist Red Party and represented its direct predecessor, the Red Electoral Alliance (RV), the electoral front of AKP(m-l), in the Troms County Council for three terms, from 1979 to 1987 (two terms) and from 1995 to 1999.

Medical Career

Since 1976, Gilbert has worked primarily in the anaesthesia department of the hospital in Tromsø, now the University Hospital of North Norway (UNN). He also worked for a period at the Gravdal Hospital in the Lofoten Islands.

Gilbert conducted research at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and was awarded a Dr. med./PhD degree from the University of Tromsø in 1991 for his thesis on metabolism and circulation during anaesthesia. In 1995, he was appointed Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Tromsø and Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University Hospital of North Norway.

Humanitarian Work

Gilbert has extensive experience in international humanitarian work, particularly at the intersection of medicine and political issues. Since the 1970s, he has been actively involved in solidarity work with Palestinians and has worked as a doctor in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon on several occasions with NORWAC. His efforts were instrumental in leading the city of Tromsø to become Gaza's sister city in 2001, and to claim that it has sent more health workers to the Palestinian territories than any other city in the world.

His book about the Gaza War, "Eyes on Gaza" (2009), has been translated into several languages. Gilbert has been hailed as a "hero" in Norwegian media for his work in Gaza; his humanitarian efforts have been commended by Prime Ministers Kåre Willoch, Jens Stoltenberg, and Erna Solberg, as well as Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. On May 6, 2013, King Harald V appointed Gilbert a Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav for his "broad services to emergency medical services."

Gilbert has also volunteered on a kibbutz in Israel.

Controversies

Gilbert has been a subject of controversy due to his political activism. In November 2014, it was announced that Israel had banned Gilbert indefinitely from entering Gaza on security grounds. The decision was met with outrage, and the Norwegian government subsequently demanded that it be reversed. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later clarified that the ban applied to entry into Israel, not the Gaza Strip. Israel, Haaretz notes, is the only accessible transit point for entering the Gaza Strip when the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt is closed.

Personal Life

Gilbert has lived in Tromsø since 1974. He has said that upon first seeing the city, he felt "deep down" that he had come home.

He is unmarried and has two daughters. He enjoys kayaking in the summer and hiking in the mountains in the winter, with the Lyngen Alps being his favorite peaks. He describes himself as a "practicing agnostic with a permanent need for prayer."

Publications

Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse co-authored the book "Eyes on Gaza," which recounts their experiences in Gaza.

Anaesthetist