A Surgeon's Story

This is a story of a top surgeon in the New York Metropolitan area. He came from humble beginnings, but with solid foundations in decency, honesty and love of humanity. He learned how to work hard for everything we wanted to achieve. He was shocked by his father's premature death from colon cancer. This traumatic experience inspired him to study Medicine in Athens Greece, and specialize in General and Cancer Surgery at King's County Hospital, SUNY-DMC in Brooklyn NY. The tough times of endless hours of work, coupled with the inspirational results of the Surgical practice in Brooklyn are described in layman's terms. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery upon completion of his training, but established his own private practice in Bergen County in 1979, where he practiced until his retirement on January 1st 2016. Multiple, inspiring life threatening medical conditions, representing a variety of surgical problems, were treated successfully and are described in layman's terms. The private life of the surgeon is also described, from the childhood years to his retirement and beyond.

This is a story of a surgeon, starting from his birth in an idyllic village of Cyprus, to his studying Medicine and becoming a top Surgeon in the New York Metropolitan area. He performed over 15,000 operations, during his 45 years of work. A variety of inspiring, life threatening medical problems, treated by surgical intervention, are described in layman's terms. The private life of the surgeon is also described, as it intermingled with the demanding practice of surgery.

Dr. George C. Christoudias, the 5th of 7 children, was born in Karavas, an idyllic village in Cyprus. He grew up in Nicosia the capital of Cyprus. Worked in the family Grocery store from the age of 6 years old, while attending elementary and high school. When he was 18 years old, he was shocked by his father's premature death at the age of 53, from colon cancer. The traumatic experience of his father's death, inspired him to became a cancer surgeon. He studied Medicine in Athens Greece, and then came to America. He trained as a General and Cancer Surgeon at Kings County Medical Center, SUNY-DMC, in Brooklyn New York, where he was appointed assistant professor of surgery. He then practiced in Bergen County, until retirement in 2016. I his 45 year experience, he performed over 15.000 operations, and developed many innovations. He invented new procedures and surgical instruments for laparoscopic surgery and holds 16 US patents. He published 17 scientific papers in prestigeous surgical journals, and was recognized as a top Doctor by the Castle Connelly Guide and many New Jersey Journals, and as one of the 100 top minimally invasive surgeons of New York by the New York Magazine, of January 14th, 2002. In this book , he describes his personal and family life, and multiple inspiring situations of life saving operations, told in layman terms.