Gerasimos A. Rigatos

Gerasimos Rigatos was born in Zakynthos in 1945. He studied medicine at the University of Athens, where he earned his doctorate and served as an unpaid associate professor. He practiced medicine for 40 years, 26 of which he spent as a director and oncologist. During the same period, he was active in scientific societies, serving on boards of directors, as general secretary, and as president. He is the founder (1989) and long-time president of the Hellenic Society of Psychosocial Oncology. He has also been involved in biomedical publishing, serving as a member, editor, or honorary editor-in-chief of various journals. For his overall contributions, he has received honorary titles and over thirty commemorative plaques. Alongside his medical career, he is also engaged in the history, folklore, and culture of medicine, as well as in prose writing. Sixty-five of his books, both in Greek and foreign languages, have been published by reputable publishers, 40 of which focus on the culture of medicine. His publishing and broader cultural activities have been widely recognized and commented on in more than 800 reviews and articles by distinguished university scholars in the field of Humanities, critics, writers, and journalists. He has collaborated at times with various newspapers and magazines in Athens ("Erevna", "Ombrella", "Historia Eikonografimeni", "Chorostasi", etc.) and with the series "Historika" and "Protoporoi" of the newspaper "Eleftherotypia". Gerasimos Rigatos has been awarded for his books by the Academy of Athens (First Class Award, 1989), the Society of Greek Writers (Markos Avgeris Commendation 1994), the O.F. Olympic Spirit (2001), the A.S.P.E. (2008), and various literary and other associations. He has also been honored with a special event by the Department of Humanities of the Pedagogical Department of the University of Athens (1996), a scholarship from the Department of Hellenic Studies at Princeton University (1998), and special tributes in newspapers and magazines "Erevna" (1996), "Ombrella" (2005), "To Stigma" (2007), "Nea Skepsi" (2009), and "Pnevmatiki Kypros" (2009). In October 2006, he received the highest honorary distinction from the University of Athens, being named an Honorary Doctor of the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education. In March 2007, he was honored by the Society of Greek Writers with the "Grig. Xenopoulos" gold medal and a "Special Award for his long-standing and significant contribution to Modern Greek literature". He is a regular member of the Society of Greek Writers, the Union of Writers' Path, the Hellenic Folklore Society, and the Athens Conservatory, as well as Honorary President of the Hellenic Society of Medical Writers.