Sanjay Gupta

It's not every day that a doctor becomes a major television celebrity, best selling author, and political advisor, but Sanjay Gupta accomplished all of these and more. An accomplished neurosurgeon, Gupta even made People magazine's sexiest men alive list, a great height few in medicine get to achieve.

Sanjay Gupta was born on October 23, 1969 in India. His family moved to Michigan so his father could work as an engineer for Ford Motors. Pursuing a career in medicine, Gupta received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. Gupta finished his residency in 2000 with the University of Michigan Health System, and became associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital and assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University. Gupta's specialty was spine trauma operations guided by 3-D imaging, and he made the news for saving a 12-year-old girl's life after a Haitian earthquake, as well as for performing emergency surgery during the Iraq war.

Eventually Gupta became a commentator for CNN, where he was chief medical correspondent. He also appeared regularly on "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" (CBS 2006-2011) and "60 Minutes" (CBS 1968- ). As a writer, Gupta had a regular column in Time magazine, and wrote several best-selling books, including the novel Monday Mornings, (2012), which went into development as a TV show with producer David E. Kelley. As a well-known figure in popular culture, Gupta made People's sexiest men list in 2003, and he also endured several controversies. He tangled with filmmaker Michael Moore, criticizing his documentary "Sicko" (2007) on CNN. He made news for reversing his stance on medical marijuana, coming out in favor of it in 2013. Gupta worked as an advisor to Hillary Clinton and was offered the post of Surgeon General for the Obama administration, but declined the position. He became enough of a pop culture fixture that he appeared on an episode of "30 Rock" (NBC 2006-2013) and in Steven Soderbergh's thriller "Contagion" (2011) as himself.