Alex Gold

Biography

Alex Gold was born and raised in Kiev Ukraine to a Jewish family. His immediate family survived through the thicket of World War II by living in Siberia until the war was over. But with that trauma in mind and anti-semitism still an influence on the job, his family were Jewish in the home, and hid under a Ukrainian last name in
public. At the ripe young age of 25, Alex worked his way through medical school and became a practicing Urologist. Just at the time when he had a taste of affluence in medicine the USSR began to crumble. With a bad economy and poverty on the rise, so was anti-semitism.
Alex knew it was time to move on and took a one-time-shot at an opportunity to come to America. His parents and brother were soon to follow. Once he arrived, he had complete culture shock. Everything was new – from nationalities he never met before to electric doors at the airport. It would prove to be challenging however, especially not knowing the English language.
Alex picked up odd jobs in a Tarzana California hospital cleaning utensils. That’s when he made the decision that he would practice medicine again. Alex studied seven years for the medical boards, looking up each word and translating it from English to Russian – so he could memorize the English term. Alex finally passed the test, but that was just the beginning of his hurdles to achieve his dream of practicing medicine again. The fierce competition from American-educated doctors and other foreign doctors for spots in a residency program was daunting. After applying to so many residency programs the denial letters piled up leaving Alex in a near state of depression. He could barely get out of bed when he received a call for an interview to a well-established residency program at the University of Texas – South Western. He packed his clothes and drove to the Lone Star State with a moments notice.
With a background as a surgeon, they saw his knowledge as superior for their highly- esteemed family practice residency. While in residency he would be reborn again! He was still Jewish, but now he was American. He was so proud to gain his American Citizenship, and up to this day he will joke that he was born in Texas. As much fun as he had in Texas, Alex never let his goals fall short. He knew he would make it back to Los Angeles and work on his dream of developing a regenerative medicine center. His moto was always move where you want to live and then open your own business.
Now Dr. Gold is a practicing physician with a thriving medical practice in the heart of Santa Monica where he resides with his lovely wife and two young sons.