Brandon Gamagami’s story starts a generation before he was born, with a father who arrived in America as an Iranian refugee, carrying no money and speaking English as his third language.
Reza Gamagami did not take a shortcut anywhere. He earned his undergraduate degree at UCLA, his medical degree at George Washington University, and finished his general surgery residency at the University of California, San Diego. He did cancer research at the UCSD Cancer Center, won a scholarship to train in colorectal surgery in Toulouse, France, and sharpened his laparoscopic skills in Dundee, Scotland under Sir Alfred Cuschieri, one of the founders of minimally invasive surgery. He served as chief of general surgery at a VA Medical Center, then spent five years treating patients in two underserved rural communities in Illinois before building his own practice.
Today, Dr. Reza Gamagami is one of the most accomplished robotic surgeons in the world. Based at Silver Cross Hospital in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, he has performed more than 5,000 da Vinci robotic procedures, a milestone that puts him in the top one percent of robotic surgeons worldwide. He was the first surgeon in his region to perform robotic gallbladder and colon surgery, holds the TME designation considered the gold standard for rectal cancer surgery, and was the first in his county to offer the LINX treatment for chronic heartburn. Surgeons fly in from across North and South America every week to watch him operate. He teaches, proctors, and mentors the next generation of da Vinci surgeons, has been published across peer-reviewed journals, and in 2025 he was named a Silver Cross Medal of Excellence honoree.
Brandon’s mother built her own path from humble beginnings. She earned a PhD, made her career as a scientist, and raised three boys while she did it. Persian and Irish, Brandon grew up in a home where nobody accepted the hand they were dealt, and where the answer to almost everything was to outwork it.
What he took from it
Brandon carried that blueprint onto the wrestling mat, where he cut weight, drilled, and learned that hard work outlasts talent. He carried it through a biochemistry degree and a 4.0 on the pre-med track at the University of Illinois, the same road his father had walked.
Then, to a lot of people’s surprise, he walked away from it. Not because he could not do the work, but because he wanted to build something of his own instead of following a script that was already written. He went into sales, built a reputation as a closer, and co-founded Rankwyre, the company he now uses to design, build, and rank the digital systems that turn visitors into customers.
A devoted Christian, Brandon holds himself to the standard his parents set. It shows up in how he sells, how he leads, and how he builds.