RACHMILEWITZ, MOSHE

RACHMILEWITZ, MOSHE (1899–1985), Israeli hematologist. Born in Mstislavl (Russia) and educated in Berlin, he reached Palestine in 1926. He joined the Hadassah Department of Internal Medicine in Jerusalem in 1931 and became its head in 1939. One of the architects of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, he became professor in 1950 and served as dean from 1957 to 1961. From 1960 he headed the Israel Association for Hematology and Blood Transfusions and in 1964 was president of the first Congress of the Asian and Pacific Society of Hematology to be held in Israel. His research work has centered on the metabolism of vitamin B-12 and folic acid, Mediterranean fever, liver diseases, the mechanisms regulating blood creation, and nutritional anemia. He made a significant contribution to the formulation of Israel's health policies as vice chairman of the National Health Council, and internationally as a member of the World Health Organization's Expert Committee on Nutritional Anemia. In 1964, he was awarded the Israel Prize in Medicine. (Lucien Harris)