Professor emeritus Kaare R. Norum was born in 1932 and is still very active in his field of academic and political interest. He was Professor in Medicine and Nutrition from 1972 until 2002 at Institute for Nutrition Research, University of Oslo. He has chaired the National Nutrition Council of Norway for several years. He was associate Dean and then later, Dean for the Medical Faculty, University of Oslo. He also served as Rector (President) of the whole University for some years. Norum has been a visiting scientist in US, both at University of Washington, Seattle, and as a Fogarty Scholar in Residence at National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD for several years. He was member of the UN Commission of the Nutrition Challenges of the 21st Century and member of the Board for the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study. He has served as the Chair for the Reference Group of WHO project on the "Global Strategy for Diet, Physical Activity and Health” 2002-2004, and he was Chair of an Expert Group on “Counteracting Obesity in Europe” serving the European Regional Office of WHO. He is Commander of The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, and Commander of the Royal Swedish Order of the Northern Star.