“It is with heavy heart that we announce the loss of one of the great clinical engineers of our time, George Panagiotopoulos,” is how the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE) newsletter delivered the news.
Panagiotopoulos died Sunday, May 24, 2020 – just a few weeks after celebrating his 60th birthday. He is survived by his wife, Dimetra, children Alexandra and Antonio, mother Magdalini, sister Alexandra, sister-in-law Angela, brother-in-law Michele, Kosta, and Kip, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews in the San Francisco Area and Greece, and countless close friends and colleagues. What a gaping hole we feel for losing such a humble, valuable, and gifted son, brother, husband, father, uncle, cousin, friend and colleague.
“We will always remember George for his calm demeanor, positive attitude, his passion for the clinical engineering profession, his great analytical mind, and his wealth of wisdom,” ACCE shared. “George started his career in banking working for Charles Schwab, but soon after he jumped into Clinical Engineering and found his calling. He worked for Kaiser Permanente in different positions regionally in Northern California, and the last few years nationally.”
He was an active member of American College of Clinical Engineering, he was a past board member, helped with different advanced clinical engineering workshops and presented at symposiums/conferences on behalf of ACCE.
An online obituary states, “George was a treasure to everyone that knew him. He was humble, compassionate and selfless. He channeled this innate goodness, along with his eternal curiosity and brilliant mind, to innovate and use new technologies to empower mankind.”
He worked for over 30 years in biomedical and clinical engineering. In his early career at Kaiser Permanente, he and two colleagues pioneered web-based access to clinical data. More recently, Panagiotopoulos held multiple leadership roles in Kaiser’s Permanente clinical technology organization.
He took an early medical retirement two years ago after receiving a “devastating diagnosis.”
“But he was not someone to do nothing. He focused on family and friends and deepened already strong relationships. He lived for experiences, winning cooking competitions with his wife, teaching his son to sail the bay, and advising his eldest on her college and career choices. Throughout all this, he remained active in his professional life by partnering with the many healthcare IT leaders he knew to start a new telehealth and biometric data company, AdaptivMD,” the obituary states.
Andrew Ulvenes, vice president clinical technology and device cyber security at Kaiser Permanente, shared the news on LinkedIn.
“As you may have heard earlier this week, we lost our clinical technology colleague George Panagiotopoulos. George passed away Sunday, May 24, 2020,” he wrote.
“For those who worked with George at Kaiser Permanete, you know how special he was and how much he brought to the table. George held multiple leadership roles in Kaiser Permanente’s clinical technology organization where he has left an indelible and lasting imprint. We are sad to lose our colleague and friend and will miss him dearly,” Ulvenes adds. “To honor his memory and to keep his spirit alive with us forever, Kaiser Permanente, Clinical Technology has announced a new recognition. We are happy to let you all know that we will now have the George Panagiotopoulos Kaiser Permanente Clinical Technology Award. This award and recognition will be awarded annually and we’ll choose one Clinical Technology employee who exemplifies and embodies the behaviors that George so eloquently displayed. George had a positive spirit and an extreme passion for his work; he had deep expertise and was considered an expert in clinical technology; he took time to treat everyone with dignity and respect regardless of who you were, how busy he was and whatever else seemed to be a priority. To keep George with us in spirit and mind, we will recognize ClinTech employees who embody his spirit.
Panagiotopoulos had two favorite quotes; “Make the right thing easy to do” and “Live simply, give a lot, expect little.” And, according to the ACCE newsletter and those who knew him, he lived his life by those two quotes!
A celebration of life will be held in the future.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral: https://www.annunciation.org/the-new-cathedral/donations or Holy Assumption Orthodox Monastery in Calistoga, California: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/2206947.
