May 18,2013 - Richard Godfrey, MD

Richard Godfrey, MD, Surgeon

Executive Director – East Bay Foundation – Graduate Medical Education, Associate Clinical Professor, UCSF – East Bay Surgical Residency Program

Dr. Godfrey will talk about his interesting path on becoming a doctor and life after you retire.

Graduated from University of California for his undergraduate degree, and received his medical education at Louisiana State University.  Dr. Godfrey has had a successful career working at Kaiser.

Dr. Richard Godfrey didn't take the traditional route to medical practice. Along the way, he served in Nepal in the Peace Corps, drove for Acme Ambulance in Oakland, and tried carpentry and stonemasonry. But a family illness led to a change in focus— at age 30 he went to medical school.

"Medicine is a shared experience," he says. "I take care of people going through extraordinary experiences, difficult experiences, and I learn from them. I admire how they work through adversity. You can't be a good teacher if you can't also learn."

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Eventbrite - LAM Research Lecture Series- May 18

 

What is a Surgeon?

A Surgeon is a specialized field of medicine where a primary physician has diagnosed an issue with the body and the surgeon is the person who performs an invasive procedure to remedy the issue. There are many different types of surgeons from orthopedic to cardiac to veterinary and oral.  The specialization relates to what part of the body they most studied.  To become a surgeon you need to have a very good background in anatomy, physiology and how the body is able to recuperate and look for complications.   

 

·         An anatomist studies the parts of the body and looks at how they function.  Main blood vessels, bones and organs are looked at in detail and how they have changed through evolution.

·         A Physiologist studies how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system.   This is also important with emergency surgery where something has gone wrong with the body and needs to be repaired quickly thus the surgeon needs to know how the body will respond.

·         A physical therapist identifies and maximizes the quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, treatment/intervention, habilitation and rehabilitation. This encompasses physical, psychological, emotional, and social well-being.  They work with surgeons after invasive surgeries to aid in the recovery process from cardiac and orthopedic surgeries.