The official opening of The Institute for Surgical Research took place on
September 9th 1966. This marked both the start of an institute that would rapidly gain international recognition and represented the end of the lengthy process of obtaining a surgical research laboratory for The
National Hospital and

The University of Oslo. Shortly after the Second World War, there was an enormous development in practical surgery, largely due to research results from surgical laboratories over the whole world. The National Hospital soon became one of the few university and state hospitals in Europe without its own surgical research institute. In 1953, the leaders of the two Departments of Surgery at The National Hospital began work on establishing a laboratory of this kind in the hospital.

Almost ten years were to pass before this work gave results. It was thanks to a donation of NOK 1 million from The Norwegian Society for
Fighting Cancer in 1962 that The University of Oslo could establish The
Institute for Experimental Surgery. Professor Leif Efskind, who was then
Senior Consultant at the Department of Surgery A at The National Hospital, was temporarily appointed Director of the Institute. The Institute did not have its own premises, and its activities took place in different laboratories scattered over Oslo. Karl Victor Hall was the first to be "employed" by the Institute. He was then working in Department of Surgery A and on his doctor's thesis. This meant that he spent one year without salary, and scholarships were uncommon at the time. Efskind therefore decided to "employ" Hall at the Institute, so that he could complete his thesis.

The Norwegian Society for Fighting Cancer also donated a large sum of money for the establishment of The Institute for Surgical Pathophysiology .This institute was connected to Department of Surgery Bat The National Hospital, where Professor Bjarne Fretheim was in charge. Without their own premises and without employees, the two institutes were rather ineffective. By combining forces and not least funds, new horizons opened. Professors Efskind and Fretheim agreed to combine their resources in a single institute and The National Hospital provided suitable premises in the old administration building in the hospital. Dr Egil Amundsen was appointed Senior Consultant at The Institute for Surgical Research.

The premises offered were dilapidated and lacked equipment. Funds from The Norwegian Society for Fighting Cancer once more came in useful: the laboratory was fitted out and the most necessary equipment was bought -and more was gradually added. Although there were only Amundsen and a secretary in the Institute in January 1966, when it was officially opened nine months later, 16 people had The Institute for Surgical Research as their place of work.