Gerard Sarnat

Gerard Sarnat is a poet, physician, executive, academic and social activist.

Life

Gerry has used the penname Gesundheit Sarnatzky, which is based on a persona created in his first book, 2010's Homeless Chronicles from Abraham to Burning Man, published by California Institute of Arts and Letters.

The nom de plume derives from great-great grandparents, shtetl lowlifes, Nahum and Yente Sarnatzky, and Jacob Ben Isaac Gesundheit, the High Rabbi of Warsaw.

Since 2008 Sarnat has been published in over sixty journals and anthologies and received recognition, domestically and internationally, including "Poetry in the Arts" 2008 First Place Award and The Dorfman Prize. In 2009 Gerry first edited literary periodicals. he was invited to perform radio InterViews including the Jane Crown Show and The Poetry Show and readings including Beyond Baroque that are available as NPR and iTunes podcasts and do workshops in Israel.

In 2010-11, Sarnat has worked with senior Los Angeles School poets, including William Mohr, whom Gerry studies with on a regular basis.

Currently Sarnat is drafting the manuscript for his second book, Disputes, which is scheduled to be published by Pessoa Press in 2012.

Education and Personal Life

Gerard graduated from Harvard College in 1967, received his MD from Stanford Medical School in 1972, and did his residency at Harvard's Beth Israel Hospital and Stanford Medical Center. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has been chief executive officer and chief medical officer for national healthcare companies including HealthAmerica and TakeCare and a Stanford Medical School professor. His area of expertise is the measurement/reward of the healthcare value equation in organized prepaid health systems. For forty years, Gerry has financed, set up, run and staffed clinics for the disenfranchised. He has chaired community organizations and served on international non-profit boards.

Sarnat is a father of three, grandfather of two, and has been married since 1969.