Sigvard Theodore Hansen, Jr. MD

It is with great sadness that we announce the recent passing of Dr. Sigvard Hansen in Seattle from complications of a stroke suffered in 2019. He will be remembered as a trailblazer who was ahead of his time in the fields of orthopaedic traumatology and foot and ankle reconstruction.

Dr. Hansen was called "Sig" by most of his professional colleagues but he was "Ted" to family and close friends. Born in Spokane, WA, to Sigvard T. Hansen, Sr. and Beverley Means he was the oldest of three children. Both parents were educators and the family lived on a small farm in Green Acres, where Ted attended Central Valley High School and developed a strong work ethic. He graduated Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Whitman College with a degree in Biology in 1957 and earned his medical degree from the University of Washington Medical School in 1961. Ted was to spend his entire professional career with the Department of Orthopaedics at UW and Harborview Medical Center.

Following a rotating internship at King County Hospital, Ted spent three years as a Navy GMO/Senior Medical Officer at NAD Oahu. He returned to the UW and graduated from the Orthopaedic residency program in 1969. Soon after graduation he took a six-month leave of absence to go to Sheffield Children's Hospital in the UK for pediatric neuromuscular training. While still in Europe, he travelled to visit trauma specialists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to learn internal fixation techniques not yet available in the US.

He became an Assistant Professor in the UW Dept. of Orthopaedics in1971 and then Chief of Orthopaedics at Harborview in 1973, at about the time that the Orthopaedic Department started to absorb severely injured patients from the newly formed paramedic program, Medic One. Dr. Hansen began a protocol of fixing fractures in trauma patients within hours of injury using surgical techniques he learned in Europe. He was confident that enabling these patients to sit up and walk instead of letting them linger in casts or long-term traction would prevent pulmonary and neurologic deterioration and save lives. At that time, this was very controversial and even considered malpractice both locally and nationally but the protocol proved itself and eventually became the gold standard of Orthopaedic trauma care. It was his work introducing early internal fixation to severely injured patients that earned him the appellation "father of traumatology".

He ran an Orthopaedic Traumatology Fellowship from Harborview beginning in 1979 and, pursuing his interest in foot and ankle problems, started a Foot and Ankle Fellowship in 1991 melding the use of traumatology techniques in both traumatic and congenital foot and ankle disorders. From 1981-1985 he served as Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at the UW. Among the many honors he received were an Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Traumatology at the UW School of Medicine in 1994; having the Foot and Ankle Clinic at Harborview dedicated as the Sigvard T. Hansen, Jr., MD Foot and Ankle Institute in 2000; the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UW School of Medicine in 2001; the AO Innovation Prize in Davos in 2006. In 2000 he published Functional Reconstruction of the Foot and Ankle, a single-author textbook that became for many the bible of foot surgery. He travelled extensively participating in teaching courses and was sought as a Visiting Professor in many parts of the world, published numerous journal articles and book chapters, belonged to many professional organizations and received many awards for his innovative achievements.

He broke rules and sometimes used unorthodox methods but was recognized to be a pioneering surgeon with 3-D perception and a unique ability to operate, explain, teach, and listen to his patients. His guiding principle was to understand the cause of a problem in order to figure out how to fix it. Ted's disdain for bureaucracy was well known and was well described in the 2009 article, "The Audacious Doc", featured in Pacific Northwest Magazine in The Seattle Times. He sometimes wore a hard hat to committee meetings "to deflect the bull.....".

Ted was a mentor who challenged young surgeons to think outside the box and develop new surgical techniques instead of accepting the status quo. He laughed easily and loved what he did. He was a strong advocate for his colleagues and students from around the globe, facilitating and promoting their academic achievements and clinical developments. His years in academic medicine produced hundreds of skilled trauma and foot and ankle surgeons, many of whom now head training programs of their own. Essentially all current and recent leaders in orthopaedic trauma as well as foot and ankle surgery are linked directly or indirectly to Dr. Sig Hansen.

His interests outside of medicine centered mainly around physical work, which he considered to be fun: climbing Mount Rainier with his medical school buddies, building retaining walls on his hillside property in Magnolia, developing an interest in wine and then digging out a wine cellar under the kitchen. He loved his family and he loved his dogs, Talus and Sheila, which were nothing less than family.

Surviving family members include his wife of 36 years, Dalia; sons Christopher (Andrea) and Eric (Tami) from his previous marriage to Mary Jane Weinman; grandchildren AnaLucia, Peter, Emma, Samuel and Benjamin; Dalia's daughters Daina Leon (Jorge) and Kima Schwend (Greg) and their children Joseph, Sofia, Wesley and Sebastian; nephew Tracy Dethlefs (Francine) and their son Keon.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Sigvard and Beverley, brother Derek (aka Pete) and sister Marilee.

A memorial celebration will take place after the holidays. The place and time will be announced.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared below for the family.