Kai Martin Edvard Setälä (13 September 1913,
Pori
Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...
– 12 May 2005,
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
)
[Oksa 1963, pp. 596-598.] was a
Finnish 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 ...
and
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of
pathological anatomy
Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the gross examination, macroscopic, Histopathology, microscopic, biochemical, immu ...
at the
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...
. Through his daughter Christel, he was the maternal grandfather of
Alexander Stubb
Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (, born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who has been the 13th president of Finland since 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015.
Rising in politics as a researcher specialis ...
, the 13th President of Finland.
Setälä himself was the great-nephew of professor
E. N. Setälä (1864–1935), the
Counsellor of State
Counsellors of State are senior members of the British royal family to whom the monarch can delegate royal functions through letters patent under the Great Seal, to prevent delay or difficulty in the dispatch of public business in the case ...
, the Chairman of the
Senate of Finland
The Senate of Finland (; ) combined the functions of Cabinet (government), cabinet and supreme court in the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1816 to 1917 and in independent Finland from 1917 to 1918.
The body that would become the Senate was establis ...
and co-author of the
Finnish Declaration of Independence
The Finnish Declaration of Independence (; ) was adopted by the Parliament of Finland on . It declared Finland to be independent from Russia, with reference to a bill (law), bill simultaneously delivered to the Parliament to make Finland an ...
.
Life
Setälä's parents were
pharmacist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...
Emil Eino Fredrik Setälä (1888–1963) and Helmi Emilia Snellman (1889–1952). Setälä graduated from
Nurmes
is a town and municipality of Finland, located in the county of North Karelia. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which
is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juuka, Kuhmo, Lieksa, Rautavaa ...
joint school in 1933 and graduated with a medical degree in 1941, when he also defended his doctorate in
medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
and
surgery
Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...
. In 1942, he married Inger Maria Torsdotter Ekman (1922–1986). He received his qualification as a specialist in
x-ray
An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...
examination and treatment in 1946 and his specialist qualification in
radiation therapy
Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT, RTx, or XRT) is a therapy, treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of treatment of cancer, cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignancy, malignant cell (biology), ...
for
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
diseases in 1949. Setälä was a docent of radiotherapy at the University of Helsinki from 1948 to 1953, when he became a professor. Before that, he had worked for both the university and several different hospitals. Setälä held numerous positions of trust at home and abroad, he was, among other things, a founding member and vice-chairman of the at the end of the 1940s.
In the 1960s, Setälä launched a product called ''Antiscal'' for the treatment of
baldness
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarring ...
.
Sources
Further reading
*
References
External links
Kai Setälä's research worksat
ResearchGate
ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education' ...
1913 births
2005 deaths
Academic staff of the University of Helsinki
20th-century Finnish physicians
People from Pori
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