Richard Selzer

Richard Selzer is a surgeon and author. He was born (1928) and raised in Troy, New York, United States. His father was Julius Selzer, M.D. a general practitioner who practiced from the ground floor of the family home at Fifth Ave. in Troy. His mother, Gertrude Selzer, was an amateur singer who performed in localproductions of musicals and opera.

Richard Selzer graduated from Union College in 1948, with a B.S. and received his MD from Albany Medical College in 1953. He served in the army during the Korean War from 1955-57, as a Lieutenant in charge of a medical detachment. In 1960, following a surgical internship and residency at Yale University, he joined the faculty of Yale as a professor of surgery where he remained until his retirement in 1985.

Beginning in the 1970's, Dr. Selzer became well known as an author as well.

Among his published books are:

"Rituals of Surgery" (1973)
"Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery" (1976)
"Confessions of a Knife" (1979)
"Letters to a Young Doctor" (1982)
"Taking the World in for Repairs" (1986)
"Imagine a Woman" (1990)
A Mile and a Half of Ink" (1990)
"Down from Troy: A Doctor Comes of Age" (1992)
"Raising the Dead: A Doctor’s Encounter with His Own Mortality (1993)
"The Doctor Stories" (1998)
"The Exact Location of the Soul: New and Selected Essays" (2001)

"Down from Troy: A Doctor Comes of Age" is his autobiography.

External links

* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utmb/00066/utmb-00066.html Dr. Selzer's Papers in the Moody Medical library at the University of Texas]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5D9113AF930A1575AC0A966958260 An article, by Dr. Selzer, in the New York Times about his 1986 malpractice trial]
* [http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/richard_selzer.html Richard Selzer quotes on Brainyquote.com]
* [http://www.teenink.com/Poetry/article.php?link=Past/2000/December/Interviews/RichardSeltzer.xml Interview at Teen Ink]