Gregory C. Lukaszewicz, MD ’90
My interest in joining the Alumni Council stems from both gratitude and concern. Since retiring from clinical practice in 2024, I have found myself reflecting upon my own time at Harvard Medical School. HMS has given me the foundation for an extremely fulfilling career in medicine and I have tried to repay that support both financially and through active participation in alumni events. However, we are living in an era where our educational institutions, such as HMS are under assault and where its faculty and students face challenges that were unimaginable when I was a student. As a first-generation Polish American, my family’s wartime and immigrant experiences have shaped my understanding of these challenges and impelled me to act in support of HMS.
I believe I can meaningfully contribute to the Alumni Council in several ways. First, I am passionate about supporting our future physicians and medical leaders as I was supported. Second, I am committed to fundraising efforts that will ensure HMS continues to provide its students and researchers with the resources they need to succeed. Third, my experience in organized medicine and my commitment to staying informed about the issues facing academic institutions will enable me to engage in thoughtful discussions about how HMS can respond to the external pressures it is confronting while remaining true to its mission.
As a member of the Class of 1990, my connection to HMS has provided the foundation for my career, and I have tried to embody the values HMS instilled in me: intellectual rigor, compassionate care, and a commitment to the greater good. I would be honored to bring this same dedication to working alongside fellow alumni on the Alumni Council to ensure that Harvard Medical School remains a leader in medical education, patient care, and research.
Gregory Lukaszewicz, MD ‘90, graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian Area Studies and Political Science in 1986. Despite this unusual educational background, he was fortunate to attend Harvard Medical School, where he spent an additional year pursuing wound healing research at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Boston before graduating in 1991. Following medical school, Lukaszewicz completed a traditional five-year general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, which included an additional two years of basic science research with Wiley Souba, MD, SD ’84, MBA, investigating the role of glutamine metabolism in trauma and sepsis. He then pursued a two-year vascular surgery fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.
Inspired by the incredibly dedicated clinicians who taught him at HMS, Lukaszewicz joined The Permanente Medical Group in Northern California in 2000 as a vascular surgeon covering the San Francisco Bay area which gave him the opportunity to provide care to patients without the bureaucratic and financial constraints of the modern, insurance-based medical system. After approximately eight years performing primarily arterial surgery, he transitioned his practice to focus exclusively on venous and lymphatic disorders and wound care. While this change proved advantageous personally, it also presented both a major challenge and opportunity professionally as lymphedema and lymphatic disorders remain largely underappreciated by both the general public and the medical community, and have very limited treatment options available. Despite these challenges, he developed a regional, team based practice caring for patients from throughout Northern California within the Kaiser Permanente system. In addition to his clinical practice, Lukaszewicz served as a San Mateo County representative to the House of Delegates of the California Medical Association and served two terms as President of the San Mateo County Medical Association.
Lukaszewicz retired from The Permanente Medical Group in 2024 after 24 years in practice and joined his wife in Santa Barbara, California, where she had been recruited several years before his retirement to start a neurosurgical brain tumor and epilepsy program. He has spent his first year of retirement working on renovating his home, gardening, horseback riding, fly fishing, sailing, reading, and hiking and is looking forward to finding a new set of professional challenges. Lukaszewicz’s transition from his busy clinical practice has also given him the time and perspective to consider how he can best serve and pay back the institution that launched his medical career.