Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is recovering after undergoing surgery to remove a small mass in his liver earlier this week.
A statement issued Monday by The Carter Center, the former president's non-profit human rights organization, says Carter underwent the procedure at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. The statement says "the prognosis is excellent for a full recovery."
Illness forced him to cut short a trip back in May to Guyana, where he had traveled to observe that country's election.
Carter is a former governor of Georgia who was elected the nation's 39th president in 1976, and served one term before he lost his 1980 re-election bid to Republican Ronald Reagan. His travels around the world promoting peace, human rights and global health earned him the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.