Featured Speakers
Prof. Wolf Langewitz, M.D.
Born in 1951 in Oldenburg, Prof. Langewitz grew up in Bremen and studied medicine in Freiburg i. Br. While working as an internist in Bonn, he completed a course in psychotherapy. Following his Habilitation, Prof. Langewitz moved to Basel to work at the University Hospital in 1990, where he is head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine since 1998. He co-authored the textbook "Psychosomatische Medizin", a classic in its field. In addition, he provides communication courses to medical doctors around the world.
Prof. David Pelcovits, Ph.D.
Dr. Pelcovits holds the Chair in Psychology at Yeshiva University where he is also the Special Assistant to the President. Serving for over two decades as Director of Psychology at North Shore University Hospital - New York University School of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Psy- chology in Psychiatry, at New York University School of Medicine, he has consulted extensively with the Jewish community in the United States, Europe and Israel on a wide range of issues facing children and adolescents. Dr. Pelcovits, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, has published and lectured extensively on a variety of topics related to edu- cation, parenting and child mental health. His most recent publication is titled “Balanced Parenting”.
Prof. Rabbi Abraham Steinberg, M.D.
Director, Center for Medical Ethics, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. Director, Medical Ethics Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. Professor of Jewish Medical Ethics and Paediatric Neurology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Prof. Steinberg is a pediatric neurologist and international expert on Jewish Biomedical Ethics. Author of multiple books and articles, including the Encyclopaedia of Jewish Medical Ethics and Israel Prize laureate 1999.
Prof. Rössler, M.D. M.Sc.
Wulf Rössler is a full Professor of Clinical and Social Psychiatry at the University of Zurich since 1996 and the chairman of the Department for Social and General Psychiatry, which is part of the Psychiatric Univer- sity Hospital in Zurich. Born 1947 near Heidelberg, he studied at first medicine in Heidelberg and subsequently psychology, which he com- pleted with the MSc. He has published more than 450 papers. He is the editor of several educational textbooks, for example in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation and emergency psychiatry. Rössler is on the scientific board of several scientific journals. He is also on the board of the Institute of Health and Substance Abuse Research, the Association of Psychiatric Chief Physicians in Switzerland and he is the president of the Swiss Society of Psychiatric Epidemiology.
Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz
Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied medicine at the University of Witwatersrand and graduated with distinction in surgery. He spent a year in St. Louis, Missouri, as an American Field Service Scholar and subsequently returned there for elective work in internal medicine at Washington University.
Dr. Tatz served as medical officer in the South African Defence force and completed a tour of duty on the Namibian border during the conflict there. He subsequently moved to Israel where he practised both in hospital and general medicine in Jerusalem, as well as engaging in Yeshiva study.
Rabbi Dr. Tatz founded the Jerusalem Medical Ethics Forum, of which he is Director, for the purpose of teaching and promoting knowledge of Jewish medical ethics internationally.