Doctor Gustaf VanHowzen

Doctor Gustaf VanHowzen, trauma surgeon and chief physician of Alliance Trauma, is a human first aid trainer located on the ground floor of Foothold Citadel on Theramore Isle in Dustwallow Marsh. He also oversees the training of Theramore's healers. In addition to teaching artisan level first aid skill, he teaches how to create Heavy Mageweave Bandages at 240+, Runecloth Bandages at 260+ skill and Heavy Runecloth Bandages at 290+ skill for free.

When the Horde attacked Theramore, he remained in the city. After the Horde escaped from the city, VanHowzen began with healing injured soldiers. It is assumed that, like the rest of Theramore's citizens, he died in the detonation of the mana bomb.

• Alliance Trauma (quest)
• Triage (Alliance), which was once necessary to acquire artisan proficiency.

Greetings,. I am Doctor Gustaf VanHowzen, head trauma surgeon of Alliance Trauma.

• Gossip

It is good to see you again, Doctor. I have been following your progress and I dare say that it is time you learned some of the more advanced bandaging techniques.

• Low level first aid

Return to me from time to time, as your skill advances, and I shall teach you all that I know.

His name is possibly a reference to the German physician 'Harald zur Hausen', who was awarded the Nobel prize in medicine in 2008. 'Hausen' and 'Howzen' are phonetically identical, and the German 'zur' is a name prefix very similar to the Dutch 'van'. Zur Hausens name prefix 'zur' is not a nobility particle in this case but a prefix referring to his ancestral origin, identical to the Dutch 'van', which is also not a nobility particle, unlike the German 'von'. Lastly, both 'Harald' and 'Gustav' (in a more typical variant) are very common Scandinavian names, whereas 'Harald' is the typical name of Norwegian kings while Gustav is the typical name of Swedish and Danish kings. Zur Hausen was a highly distinguished physician and medical researcher long before he was awarded the Nobel prize.

Another possible reference, with a more obvious name similarity, is to the famous TV series physician 'Dr. House'. While both World of Warcraft and "House, M.D." were initially released in the US in November 2004 (23. for World of Warcraft, 16. for the TV series), VanHowzen was likely already present during the beta of World of Warcraft, clearly predating the TV series character.

• List of Dustwallow Marsh NPCs