Faculty of Medicine nominated Professor Toomas Asser as rector candidate

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At its meeting on 15 February, the council of the Faculty of Medicine decided to nominate Professor Toomas Asser as a rector candidate of the University of Tartu. 

Professor Toomas Asser thanked the Faculty of Medicine for their trust in him and said he was ready to take on the responsibility and run for rector again. "The targets set five years ago have now been met. For instance, the doctoral reform, the renewed career model or the issue of underfunding in higher education, which has been at least temporarily alleviated." 

Asser added that, in seeking solutions to problems, he has enjoyed trustful and constructive cooperation with his immediate colleagues at the Rector's Office, the university in general and with other Estonian universities. "This is an important value that gives me the confidence that I can continue leading a team with similar values for the next five years." 

Toomas Asser was born on 14 July 1954 in Jõhvi and completed secondary education at Nõo Secondary School in 1973. In 1979, he graduated from the University of Tartu Faculty of Medicine. From 1979 to 1989, Asser was an Assistant at the Neurology Clinic of Tartu State University, and an Associate Professor from 1989 to 1995. From 1988 to 1989, Asser trained at the Institute of Brain Diseases of Tohoku University in Japan. From 1996 to 2016, he was the Head of the University of Tartu Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery. From 2016 to 2018, he was the Head of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the University of Tartu Institute of Clinical Medicine. 

Toomas Asser has been Professor of Neurosurgery since 1995. In 2011, he became a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and, in 2018, a member of the Research and Development Council. 

His main fields of research are cerebrovascular diseases and surgical treatment of cerebral artery aneurysms. Ten doctoral theses and one master's thesis have been defended under his supervision. 

From 2000 to 2009, Asser was Dean of the University of Tartu Faculty of Medicine. In 2018, Toomas Asser was elected the Rector of the University of Tartu at extraordinary elections.