Erling Troensegaard-Hansen received his education at Copenhagen and at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, qualifying with the conjoint diploma in 1932, and gained the Fellowship in 1948. After registrarships at Mansfield General Hospital, Windsor Hospital and Slough Emergency Hospital, he became honorary surgeon to the Scandinavian Benevolent Society and the Central YMCA. In 1956 he became a research fellow in surgery at Charing Cross Hospital and honorary surgeon to the Anglo-Scandinavian Society. In 1958 he was also a clinical assistant in the vascular surgery unit at Hammersmith Hospital. Thereafter he practised as senior surgical registrar at King George V Hospital, Ilford and at the Barking Hospital Group varicose clinic, as well as practising privately. In 1965 he moved to Canada, where he practised as a surgeon to the Gull Lake Clinic, Gull Lake, Saskatchewan. He retired in 1985 and died at Ocean Park, Surrey, British Columbia on 24 October 1992.