Sanjay Gupta facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sanjay Gupta
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Gupta in 2021
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| Born | October 23, 1969 Novi, Michigan, U.S.
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| Education | University of Michigan (BS, MD) |
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| Spouse(s) |
Rebecca Olson
(m. 2004) |
| Children | 3 |
| Family | Suneel Gupta (brother) |
Sanjay Gupta (born October 23, 1969) is a well-known American doctor, a brain surgeon (called a neurosurgeon), and a reporter. He also writes books. He works as a top brain surgeon at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. He's also a professor at Emory University School of Medicine. Many people know him as the main medical reporter for CNN.
Sanjay Gupta is famous for appearing on TV to talk about health topics. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he was on many CNN shows. He helped explain the crisis and hosted a weekly meeting with Anderson Cooper. Gupta used to host his own CNN show called Sanjay Gupta MD. He won several awards, called Emmy Awards, for this show. He also hosted a six-part TV series called Chasing Life. You might have seen him on other CNN shows like American Morning or Anderson Cooper 360°. He won an Emmy Award in 2006 for his reports from Charity Hospital in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He also works as a special reporter for CBS News. Sanjay Gupta also helps host a health conference called Life Itself. He writes for Time magazine and has written four books. These books include Chasing Life, Cheating Death, Monday Mornings: A Novel, and Keep Sharp.
Contents
Early life and education
Sanjay Gupta was born in Novi, Michigan. This is a town near Detroit. His parents, Subhash and Damyanti Gupta, came from India in the 1960s. They met in Livonia, Michigan, where they both worked as engineers for Ford Motor Company. His mother was born in a village in Sindh (which is now in Pakistan). When she was five, she moved to India as a refugee during the Partition of India.
Sanjay and his younger brother Suneel both went to Novi High School. Sanjay then went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical sciences. He then got his medical degree (M.D.) from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1993. He was part of a special program that let students go to medical school right after high school.
When he was in college, Gupta helped new students get used to university life. He was also a member of the Men's Glee Club. He was the president of the Indian American Students Association. This group is now one of the biggest student groups at the university. Gupta finished his training to become a brain surgeon at the University of Michigan Health System in 2000. After that, he did more training in Memphis, Tennessee. Sanjay Gupta also plays the accordion. He took lessons for ten years.
Career
Medical practice
Sanjay Gupta is a general brain surgeon at Grady Memorial Hospital. He is part of Emory Healthcare. He works on spine problems, injuries from accidents, and uses 3-D images to guide his operations. He has written articles for medical journals about brain tumors and spinal cord issues. He is allowed to practice medicine in Georgia.
From 1997 to 1998, he was a White House Fellow. This meant he advised important people in the government, like Hillary Clinton. In 2009, people thought Gupta might become the Surgeon General of the United States. This is the top doctor for the whole country. But he decided not to take the job.
After a big earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Gupta was reporting there. He got a call from a Navy ship, the USS Carl Vinson. A 12-year-old girl who was hurt in the earthquake needed a brain surgeon. Gupta, along with another doctor named Henri Ford and two U.S. Navy doctors, helped the girl. They removed a piece of concrete from her head during an operation on the ship. Doctor Ford later said that Gupta was a very skilled brain surgeon.
Broadcast journalism, television, film and events
Gupta started working at CNN in 2001. He reported from New York after the attacks on September 11, 2001. In 2003, Gupta went to Iraq to report on the medical side of the war. While he was there, Gupta even performed emergency surgery on both American soldiers and Iraqi people. He was with a Navy medical team at the time.
In 2006, CNN and CBS News made a deal. Gupta would report for CBS shows like CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and 60 Minutes. But he would still be CNN's main medical reporter and a surgeon at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Gupta has also been a guest host on TV shows. He hosted a health episode of CBS News Sunday Morning in 2007. He also guest hosted Larry King Live in 2009. In 2010, Gupta and Anderson Cooper led CNN's coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. Gupta has also appeared on many other popular talk shows. These include Late Show with David Letterman and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah Winfrey even called him CNN's hero in 2010.
In 2011, Gupta played himself in the movie Contagion. This movie became very popular again during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. His book Monday Mornings became a bestseller when it came out in 2012. It was made into a TV show in 2013. Gupta was one of the main producers for the show. He also helped produce a CNN documentary in 2017 called Unseen Enemy. This film warned about the dangers of a worldwide pandemic.
In 2019, Gupta's show Chasing Life became a six-part TV series on CNN. For this show, he traveled to places like Japan, India, and Italy. In September 2019, Gupta and Marc Hodosh started a new event called Life Itself with CNN. Gupta was a guest host on the TV show Jeopardy! from June to July 2021.
Surgeon General candidate
In January 2009, CNN announced that President-elect Barack Obama was thinking about making Gupta the Surgeon General of the United States. This is a very important job. Some doctors thought Gupta would be great because he's good at talking to people. They thought he could help explain important health issues. Others had some worries about his connections to drug companies.
Some people in the medical community supported Gupta. They thought his media experience and medical skills were perfect for the job. For example, Fred Sanfilippo from Emory University said Gupta had the right skills to help improve health care in the U.S. The American Council on Exercise also supported him. They said he was good at inspiring Americans to be healthier. Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders also thought he was a good choice. In March 2009, Gupta decided not to take the job. He said it was because of his family and his career.
Honors
On April 28, 2012, Sanjay Gupta received an honorary degree. This was for his achievements in medicine. He also gave a speech at the graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan. On March 20, 2015, Gupta and his wife, Rebecca, received an award from UNICEF. It was called the Global Philanthropist Award.
On June 12, 2016, Gupta spoke to the graduating class at Oregon Health & Science University. On May 23, 2019, he gave the graduation speech at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In October 2019, Gupta was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Medicine. This is one of the highest honors a doctor can receive. He was also chosen to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. In October 2022, Gupta received the Fitzwater Medallion for Leadership in Public Communication. In May 2023, he gave the graduation speech at Baylor College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School.
Personal life
Sanjay Gupta is married to Rebecca Olson. She is a lawyer who works with family law. They got married in 2004 in a Hindu wedding ceremony. They live in Atlanta and have three daughters. Gupta wrote a book called World War C: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic and How to Prepare for the Next One. This book is about the COVID-19 pandemic.
See also
In Spanish: Sanjay Gupta para niños
- List of American novelists
- List of American print journalists
- List of surgeons
- List of television reporters
