The Doctor--His Background
Garo M. Tertzakian was born in Lebanon in 1949 to an Armenian family that had fled the Turkish persecution of Armenians during World War I.
The grandson of a tobacconist and the son of a tailor, Tertzakian graduated as a medical doctor from the American University of Beirut and trained in general surgery at the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo. He served his residency in urology at UC Irvine Medical Center, where he remains an assistant professor of urology specializing in kidney transplants. His private practice is in Tustin and Orange. He became a U.S. citizen in 1982.
He, his wife Sylvie, his 9-year-old daughter Taleen and his 7-year-old son Aram live in Cowan Heights.
Tertzakian is a board member of Medical Outreach for Armenians, a nonprofit organization for improving health care for Armenians throughout the world. This is his account of his recent trip to earthquake-devastated Armenia, as told to Times staff writer Steve Emmons.
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