Takis K. Evangelides

Takis K. Evangelides MD FCCP (Greek: ΕυαγγελÎ¯δης) (1907-2010) was a Greek-Cypriot doctor, inventor and author. His largest contribution to the medical practice was in the field of tuberculosis, during the 1930s and 40’s when the disease was rife in Cyprus and the rest of Europe. During this time he invented a portable pneumothorax treatment apparatus for which he received a British patent. His medical career lasted for 6 decades during which time he wrote various medical publications, and later moved to writing short stories, many of which were based on his medical experiences. He died aged 102, a passionate proponent of active, natural, simple living which helped him preserve his mental and physical health till the very end.
Biography
Takis was born the third of the five children of Kypros and Chrystalla Evangelides on 27 September 1907, in Limassol, Cyprus.
In 1924 he graduated from the Pancyprian Gymnasium and went on to get a medical degree at the University of Athens from which he graduated in 1930.
In 1932, having specialised for two years at the Sotiria Sanatorium in Greece, he moved to England where for two further years he attended at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital (Brompton Sanatorium and National Hospital for Diseases of the Heart). He then moved back to his home country, where, during the decade 1935-1945, he served as the physician and was appointed senior doctor at the Athalassa Sanatorium and as medical officer of the Antituberculosis League at the Dispensaries of Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol.
In 1940, during World War II, when he had to treat tuberculosis patients on home visits by bicycle instead of by car, he invented a new ‘portable’, Atrificial Pneumothorax apparatus based on a previous larger machine, three times the size. He received a patent for this invention from England, during the reign of King George VI.
In 1946 he set up his private practice, and worked as a general practitioner. He became the nominated doctor for carrying out medical checks on behalf of the Canadian, Australian and US governments examining patients that were emigrating from Cyprus.
He retired in 1997 at the age of 90.
Personal life
He met his wife Florence Winifred Skerritt while working in England. When he moved back to Cyprus, in order to pursue his medical career, their romance continued via correspondence for three years, and finally, in 1937, they were married in Cyprus. They had three children, and nine grandchildren and their marriage continued for more than 70 years until his wife died aged 102. His passion for physical and mental health kept him active through gardening, art, writing and reading all the way to the end of his life at the age of 102. He took great interest in politics and religion, reading intensely even when in his later years he needed a magnifying glass, constantly broadening his knowledge even starting to read the Quran at age 101. At the age of 100 he was known to have said "I can never understand how anyone can be bored! "
Achievements & Honours
*1933 - MD - Degree in Medicine - University of Athens
*1960 - FCCP - Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians
*1985 - Medical Association Nicosia-Kyrenia 'IPPOKRATIO Diploma'
*1993 - US Embassy Certificate for long and distinguished services as one of the Embassy Panel Physicians.
*2007 - Honorary diploma for his 100th birthday presented by the 4 past presidents of the Nicosia-Kyrenia Medical Association ‘Hippocrates’
*2007 - Honorary plaque from the Cyprus Association of Chest Diseases
Publications
Medical
*Tuberculosis(1951)
*Asthma (1953)
*Pneumoconiosis - Sylikosis (1960)
*Smoking (1986)
General
*'The collected writings of Dr Takis K. Evangelides”, Nicosia, Cyprus (2007) ISBN 978-9963-7591-4-9
*“Sta Synora Tis Siopis (In The Bounds of Silence)”, Nicosia, Cyprus (2007) ISBN 978-9963-7591-3-2
*”Anthropina”, Nicosia, Cyprus (1973)
*”Like Her”, Nicosia, Cyprus (1973)
*”Apo ti Zoi ke to telos tis”, Nicosia, Cyprus (1978)
*”The Crossing” , Nicosia, Cyprus (1978)
* “Ancona ”, Maine, USA (1988) ISBN 0-93433-27-8,
*”Synomosies”, Nicosia, Cyprus (1990)
*”Sto Perasma Tou Hronou”, Nicosia, Cyprus (1992)

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