Medical 'Communities'
Medicine has been a significant feature of the Jewish psyche over centuries. In South Africa, many of the children and grandchildren the of Eastern European immigrants at the turn of the last century excelled at school, giving them access to excellent medical education in Johannesburg and Cape Town. As a result, they have excelled in all branches of medical practice in South Africa and around the world. Virtual communities of medical practitioners have been identified and written about – which you can read by clicking the titles in the table.
(There are also several memoirs on CHOL by and about medical practitioners; go to the Memoirs page and search for 'medic'.)
| Title | Driver | Description | Created or uploaded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baragwanath Hospital: The Contribution of Jewish Doctors at Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto, South Africa | Dr Naomi Schamroth | PDF. Over the past seven decades, thousands of Jewish doctors have passed through the portals of Baragwanath Hospital. The clinical training that they received at Bara, both as under- and post-graduates, has contributed to the excellence of medicine worldwide. Those that practiced and taught there are legendary. Read about them here. Also read the biography of Leo Schamroth, Professor of Medicine at Wits and Chief Physician of the Department of Medicine at Bara 1973 – 1987, in Memoirs. |
2024 |
| 2 | Baragwanath Hospital: Memories of Baragwanath as Students and Registrars | Avroy Fanaroff and Jeff Maisels | Website. All those who had the opportunity of working at Baragwanath Hospital received the most extraordinary training, meeting with every kind of medical problem and surgical condition in quick succession. The 'chiefs' who worked there were legendary and young doctors were set up for life. | 2022 |
| 3 | Wits Medical Graduates of 1960 | Chaim Rosenberg / Geraldine Auerbach | With over half the class of Jewish origin, this Mailchimp website has biographical sketches of over 50 graduates of 1960, 22 of whom became professors; three became deans of medical schools (in SA, the USA ad Australia) and two looked after the Mandela family. This website includes newsletters sent to the classmates in 2020 and essays on the advances in medicine they experienced during their careers between 1960 and 2020. | 2022 |
| 4 | Northern Suburbs - Partners in Primary Care | Gail Lustig | This 2020 web 'exhibition' explores the lives of medical professionals – the Jewish doctors and pharmacists – who practiced in the northern suburbs of Cape Town - Belville, Parow, etc. It draws upon reminiscences of their lives and work as told by themselves, their spouses, and their children. | 2022 |
| 5 | Jewish Contributions to Medicine in South Africa | Dr Louis Herrman | The profession of medicine has always been held in the highest esteem by Jews throughout their long history. Medicine still retains its traditional favour amongst them as a chosen profession or an object of scientific enquiry. This survey, transcribed by Jeremy Hodes, was part of the South African Jewry Yearbook 1967-8. | 2024 |