Herbert Westermark

Like his father, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, Herbert Westermark earned a bachelor’s degree in medicine in 1913 and the licentiate degree in 1918. He then worked as a physician at Karlskrona Hospital and at the obstetrics clinic at Allmänna BB in Stockholm. From 1923-24, Westermark was employed at the gynaecological clinic, before he settled as a general practitioner in Stockholm in 1925. In 1926, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1926. He received a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1926. Until 1930 he worked in Stockholm’s district of Bromma.

Additionally, Westermark pursued a career in the Swedish Naval Medical Officers’ Corps and served as a naval surgeon from 1918-20. Between 1925 and 1935 he served as a staff doctor in the Coastal Fleet for three periods. In 1936 he was appointed to 1st naval surgeon, and one year later to Surgeon-in-Chief of the Swedish Navy, head of the Swedish Naval Medical Officers’ Corps and Inspector for the Navy’s Medical Service, positions that he held until 1956.

Westermark was a member of the board of the Swedish Society of Medicine (1930-55). Moreover, he was a member of the Royal Swedish Naval Society and of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences and honorary member of the Association of Military Surgeons, USA. Among his many awards and distinctions, he was Commander 1st Class of the Order of the Polar Star and Commander of the Order of Vasa, and earned the Swedish Red Cross Silver Medal and the Trafvenfelt Gold Medal of the Swedish Medical Society. Westermark wrote textbooks about naval medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology. In 1920, he married Elly Maria Carlström. The couple had four sons, one of whom died as a young child.

For the Royal Swedish Sailing Society (KSSS), he was a member of the crew of the yacht Sans-Atout in the 8-metre class at the 1912 Olympic Games together with his brother Nils. Thanks to a second place in race one, they made it to the silver medal race, beating the Finnish Lucky Girl by less than one minute. In addition to sailing, Westermark was an avid skier and skater.