Akershus University Hospital (, abbreviated Ahus) is a Norwegian public university hospital in the Greater Oslo Region. It is located in the Lørenskog municipality in the region of Viken, northeast of the Norwegian capital Oslo. It is a teaching hospital and one of two university hospitals affiliated with the University of Oslo, alongside the larger Oslo University Hospital. The hospital has around 10,000 employees and a capacity of around 950 beds. In 2018, there were approximately 2,600 health, medical and nursing students in placements or internships within the hospital. History Akershus University Hospital was officially opened on 15 May 1961 as the Akershus Central Hospital (SIA). The area on which it was built, Nordbyhagen in Lørenskog eventually became developed with more homes and apartments, nursery schools, convenience store and several buildings with associated with hospital functions. In 1978, the hospital began its second major phase, and it has since been built a series of individual buildings and minor additions to the hospital. The Norwegian Parliament (the Storting) decided in 1999 that the then Central Hospital of Akershus (SIA) would be a teaching hospital. The first teaching program started in 2001 and was expanded to cover the full study period soon after. Today the "faculty division" is one of the ten departments affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo. Since 2002, the university hospital has figured prominently in medical research and medical education. The new hospital In 2003 the Norwegian parliament gave the go-ahead for a new University Hospital in Akershus to be built. On 18 December 2003, the executive board at the Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority determined that construction work would start in March 2004. It was to be designed by the Danish architects from the firm C.F Møller and was estimated to cost around $1.7bn. On 1 March 2004 Health Minister Dagfinn Høybråten turned the sod. In October 2008, the new hospital building designed by Danish architects Arkitektfirmaet C. F. Møller opened. Setting new standards for hospital architecture in Norway, at the time of its construction, it was claimed to be the most modern in Europe. The research center After Akershus University Hospital became a teaching hospital in 2000, a separate Center for Research () was established. Since then, the research center has taken an increasingly central place in the hospital. The hospital houses 26 separate research groups working on somatic and