We close the year 2023 with great news for the Instituto de Traumatología Dr. Gastaldi Orquin (ITGO) and that is that our CEO, Dr. Enrique Gastaldi has been recognised as Doctor of the Year in Arthroscopic Surgery and Sports Traumatology in the 5th edition of the Doctor of the Year Awards organised by the newspaper “La Razón”.
The event took place at the Westin Palace Hotel in Madrid and the award was presented by the newspaper’s director, Francisco Marhuenda.
Dr. Gastaldi, surrounded by a large part of his family, received the award with emotion.
“I am very grateful for this recognition of my career in medicine and I am sure it will help me to continue. I can’t stop thinking about how privileged I am as I have a great wife by my side and wonderful children and grandchildren. I also enjoy my profession and have good friends. So I have to thank God every day,” he explained.
After having a great-grandfather, grandfather and father who were doctors, he studied medicine, although tradition soon turned into a deep vocation.
Even as a teenager he wanted to be a surgeon like his father and even entered the operating theatre before he came of age. “I helped my father in some operations and I am very grateful to him. He was very great in his profession and the first specialist in sports medicine, so I found my way into traumatology to treat injuries at his side,” said the doctor.
His mentor in the speciality of traumatology was Professor Francisco Gomar and, at that moment, Dr Gastaldi became a kind of visionary. He found in arthroscopy the future of knee surgery. He initiated and perfected minimally invasive interventions that allowed rapid recovery from sports injuries. A great platform in his career.
His figure has always been linked to sport in general, which is why he has collaborated with numerous clubs (football, futsal, basketball, handball, rugby, etc.). Motor sport has counted on him, as head doctor of the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, head doctor for 25 motorcycling Grand Prix and organiser of the medical assistance for the Formula 1 Grand Prix held in Valencia.
He is currently president of HISPAMEF (Asociación Hispanoamericana de Medicina del Fútbol) and is in charge of organising the next International Congress. The event will take place in October 2024 in his homeland, the city of Valencia, and will bring together Hispano-American specialists to share data and novel techniques in the treatment and prevention of football injuries.
One of the concerns and vocations of Dr. Gastaldi is teaching, which is why he is Professor Emeritus at the Cardenal Herrera CEU University and created ITGO. In this sense, he did not hesitate to praise the importance of training and insisted that he is happy to be able to teach through his experiences and thus help young people.
The doctor is clear about the future of his profession and created the Regenerative Medicine Unit with the ITGO at La Salud Hospital.
“I am passionate about this world and I was a pioneer in my city in applying these techniques such as growth factors (Platelet Rich Plasma) and my work with mesenchymal stem cells. I am convinced that medicine has to be oriented towards regeneration and not so much towards repair. In addition, it is important to carry out personalised treatments,” he said.
