Professor Friðbjörn Sigurðsson is a physician at Akureyri Hospital in Iceland. He graduated in medicine from the University of Iceland in 1986, before completing postgraduate training in general internal medicine at St Raphael's Hospital, now Yale New Haven Hospital, and in medical oncology and haematology at Yale New Haven Hospital. He went on to serve as Programme Director for Internal Medicine at Landspítali University Hospital in Reykjavík, alongside clinical work in oncology and haematology at both Landspítali and Akureyri Hospital.
He was instrumental in founding the Akureyri Clinic, a nationally designated specialist clinic for patients with ME and long COVID, formally opened in August 2024 following a cooperation agreement between Akureyri Hospital, the Healthcare Institution of North Iceland and the Icelandic Ministry of Health. The clinic provides referral based services nationwide and is developing a national registry for ME and long COVID.
Professor Sigurðsson has been a prominent advocate for ME awareness in Iceland for many years, chairing ME and long COVID symposia at the annual Icelandic Medical Society meetings and presenting on the historical significance of the 1948 to 1949 Akureyri Disease epidemic, one of the earliest and best documented outbreaks of what would later be recognised as myalgic encephalomyelitis. He is a member of the European ME Research Group (EMERG) and has collaborated closely with international researchers including Professor Jonas Bergquist and Dr Jesper Mehlsen.

REFERENCES

• Friðbjörn Sigurðsson – Landspítali University Hospital News