Runolfur Palsson received his Medical Degree from the University of Iceland in 1985. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Hartford Hospital and University of Connecticut in 1991, and a fellowship in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston in 1996. He then returned to Iceland where he became Consultant in Nephrology at Landspitali–The National University Hospital. Dr. Palsson was appointed Chief of the Division of Nephrology at the same institution in 2004 and served simultaneously as Director of Organ Transplantation Services. In 2019, Dr. Palsson became Director of Internal Medicine Services at Landspitali–The National University Hospital and was named CEO of the hospital in 2022.
Dr. Palsson was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Iceland in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and to Professor of Medicine in 2014. His research focuses primarily on the epidemiology and genetics of chronic kidney disease and kidney stone disease.
Dr. Palsson served as President of the Icelandic Society of Internal Medicine from 2001 to 2016. He was President of the European Federation of Internal Medicine from 2016 to 2018. Dr. Palsson is presently Vice-President of the European Union of Medical Specialists Internal Medicine Section.