Korean-American Surgeon Who Saved Congresswoman's Life

Korean-American Surgeon Who Saved Congresswoman's Life

Peter Rhee

A Korean-American doctor was thrust into the spotlight after operating on U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who sustained a gunshot wound through her brain in the Tucson shooting rampage last weekend.

Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of trauma at Tucson's University Medical Center, was born in Korea and emigrated to the U.S. as a child. His long experience as a battlefield surgeon helped to save the lives of several of the shooting victims.

Giffords "was fortunate enough to be wheeled into the emergency room of a uniquely qualified surgeon," as the 49-year-old Naval surgeon has treated "hundreds and hundreds" of war injuries, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.

Dr. Rhee received his M.D. from Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland in 1987. He was among the first group of U.S. military surgeons sent to Afghanistan in 2001, and he later tended to wounded soldiers on the battlefields of Iraq in 2005.

On the day of the rampage, he was called in to the hospital while out for a jog. Thanks in part to his team's quick preparation, they were able to get Giffords into the operating room within 38 minutes of the shooting.