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Professor Bengt Saltin is
a world leading human physiologist. As a medical doctor he
has devoted his life to researching the effects of physical
exercise on health and performance. No single scientist in
modern times has covered more or has such a significant
impact on discovering the nature of human function. He has
published over 500 papers covering vast areas of physiology.
He coined and proved the term ‘humans were meant to move’
from the level of gene expression to heart and muscle
function. His famous ‘bed rest’ study transformed medical
practice on how people recover from heart attacks, general
surgery, or injury. He proved the importance and limits of
the heart in athletes and cardiac patients, described and
explained the genetic basis for why world-class marathoners
and sprinters run so fast. He provided the scientific basis
for determining if an athlete is using performance-enhancing
drugs. Most importantly, his emphasis on gene-environment
interaction has extended our fundamental scientific
knowledge of human physiology by clarifying the importance
of the environment for optimizing gene expression. He is now
exploring the ways how inactivity causes diabetes. Bengt
Saltin has extended the scientific lineage of the Nobel
laureate August Krogh by acting as Director of the
Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, the leading human
physiology institute in the world.
He has served as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at
the University of Copenhagen, directed multiple national and
international governmental health and medical organizations,
and currently serves on the scientific board of the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He has received the highest
international honours in his field. In 2002, he was awarded
the IOC Prize, an Olympic Gold Medal, for having made the
greatest contribution to our understanding of exercise for
health and performance. By consensus of his peers, at the
last World Scientific Congress in Athens in 2004, he was
introduced for his keynote address as the “Aristotle of
Human Physiology” |
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