[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 16, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E658-E659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF DR. GEORGE BERCI

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TED LIEU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 16, 2021

  Mr. LIEU. Madam Speaker, I rise in recognition of the tremendous 
contributions of Dr. George Berci, a beloved American and resident of 
California's 33rd Congressional District. With decades of work as an 
inventor, engineer, professor and author, Dr. Berci's innovative genius 
and generous spirit has impacted not only the world of medicine but 
also laid the foundation for future advancement in surgical 
technologies.
  Born in Hungary in 1921, Dr. Berci's family immigrated to Vienna 
where he studied the violin. They returned to Hungary in the late 
1930's when the rise of Nazi Germany forced thousands of Jewish people 
to emigrate from Austria. He re-learned Hungarian, graduated from high 
school, and studied mechanical engineering for three years.
  In 1942, Dr. Berci was conscripted into a forced labor camp in his 
native Hungary. Near the end of the war, George escaped a Nazi march 
toward Auschwitz and returned behind German lines to Budapest to find 
his mother. He joined the underground where he used his German language 
skills to save many still in the ghetto.
  In war ravaged, communist-controlled Hungary, Dr. Berci attended 
Medical School and completed his surgical residency. During this time, 
he was arrested for confronting the Communist Party, wrote his first 
research papers, and escaped during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution to 
Melbourne, Australia. Following his escape, he was awarded a 
Rockefeller Fellowship in surgery in Vienna, Austria. After working 
many years in a laboratory, Dr. Berci became an Associate Professor of 
Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Melbourne.
  Dr. Berci performed a one-year fellowship at the University of 
Seattle and in 1970, accepted the position of Director of Surgical 
Endoscopy and Surgical Research at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital and later 
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center under the chairmanship and mentorship of 
the great Leon Morgenstern. He was later named Clinical Professor of 
Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University 
of Southern California.
  In his 70-year career, Dr. Berci changed the face of surgery and 
anesthesiology by pioneering many endoscopic and laparoscopic 
techniques that provide the basis for virtually all minimally invasive 
surgeries performed today. George's many major contributions to the 
science and medical communities include his notable leadership as a 
part of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic 
Surgeons' laparoscopic safety and efficiency training programs. Through 
this program he developed the first miniature endoscopic video camera, 
creating a video intubation scope and invented the VITOM surgical video 
microscope. George also developed other endoscopic instruments and 
procedures used in urology, gynecology, general, and thoracic surgery, 
operative laryngology, office laryngology, and pediatric surgery--where 
his miniature endoscopes allowed endoscopic surgery in children.
  Dr. Berci has been widely recognized for his work, having been 
awarded 21 major prestigious awards, including: the Glissan Prize 
(Australia) and the American College of Jacobson Innovation Award. In 
addition, Karl Storz Endoscopy endowed a Chair in Surgery position in 
his honor, the University of Hungary awarded him an honorary PhD, and 
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center presented him with their 2017 Lifetime 
Achievement Award.
  As a prolific speaker, writer, and researcher, Dr. Berci has 
delivered hundreds of lectures, published 12 books and 238 publications 
in peer reviewed journals worldwide. His revolutionization of the field 
of minimally invasive surgery, and his impact as a mentor to a 
generation of surgeons, has made a lasting mark on the entire medical 
community.
  At 100 years of age, Dr. George Berci continues to serve the medical 
community at Cedar-Sinai's Hospital in Los Angeles, teaching residents 
at the Women's Guild Simulation

[[Page E659]]

Center for Advanced Clinical Skills, while continuing his lifelong work 
creating surgical advancements in the laboratory. He is truly a pioneer 
in the medical field and a great American.

                          ____________________