Brooklyn neurosurgeon Erich Anderer combines brains and heart
When Dr. Erich G. Anderer was nine years old, he made his fatherbuy him a copy of the human anatomy textbook, Gray’s Anatomy of theHuman Body, so that he could pore over the engravings and sketchthem out for himself. Now, at 35, with over 12 years of medicalschool and training behind him, he has put that early fascinationto use as a neurosurgeon at Maimonides Medical Center.
I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was a little kid. I used todraw pictures of the human brain and I enjoyed opening things up,said Anderer recently between shifts. After my residency, I wantedto work at a big community hospital with a lot of resources andalso be able to keep my hand in academia. I realized thatMaimonides offers the best of both worlds.
Anderer joined the Maimonides staff last July after completinghis residency at New York University Medical Center, where he had afellowship in spine surgery within the departments of neurosurgeryand orthopedic surgery. Before that, he attended ColumbiaUniversity Medical School, where he worked with Brooklyn native andNobel Prize winner Richard Axel and discovered his interest inneuroscience and self-described surgical personality.