Ilkka Vartiovaara

Ilkka Juhani Vartiovaara (February 14, 1946 Helsinki – April 10, 2010 Vantaa) was a Finnish medical doctor, author, editor, artist and columnist. He specialized in psychiatry, but never worked as a psychiatrist, because he was more keen on being a writer. He served as the editor in chief of Medisiinari, Suomen Lääkärilehti (Finnish Medical Journal) and Terveys 2000. He also illustrated these publications with his drawings.

Vartiovaara authored more than 20 books, including both medical textbooks and collections of his magazine columns and essays discussing medicine from a more humanistic perspective. Several of these titles were about stress and burnout, a concept he is credited for originally bringing to Finland in 1984.

In 1987 Vartiovaara got infected with Lyme disease on a conference trip to Vancouver. The illness wasn't known in Finland at the time and it took some time for him to acquire a diagnosis. Dsspite attempts at antibiotic treatment the late-stage Lyme disease eventually incapacitated him and he had to go on disability, though he continued writing, drawing and photographing. He was the first well-known Lyme patient in Finland. Vartiovaara wrote about his battle with Lyme in his book Delfiinin laulu (The song of the dolphin) and in a letter published in The Lancet. Vartiovaara died of his Lyme disease in 2010, at the age of 64.