STEINBERG, AVRAHAM

STEINBERG, AVRAHAM (1947– ), Israeli physician and ethicist. Born in Germany, Steinberg immigrated with his parents as an infant to Israel (1949). After graduating high school Steinberg studied at Yeshivat Merkaz ha-Rav Kook in Jerusalem (1965–66). He then studied medicine at the Medical School of Hebrew University-Hadassah in Jerusalem and graduated in 1972. After serving in the army as a medical officer in the Air Force (1973–76), Steinberg trained in pediatrics at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, and in pediatric neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at Montefiore Hospital Medical Center in the Bronx, New York (1976–82). Steinberg has worked as a senior pediatric neurologist at Shaare Zedek and Bikkur Cholim Hospitals in Jerusalem, as well as in the various health maintenance organizations in Jerusalem. Between 1986 and 1999 Steinberg served as secretary and treasurer of the Israel Society of Pedriatic Neurology. From 1969 Steinberg researched and published extensively in the fields of general and Jewish medical ethics, history of medicine and medicine and law. He wrote many papers in Israeli and international journals, and he lectured in medical ethics at the Hebrew University Medical School as well as in many national and international forums. Steinberg chaired several national committees on medical-ethical issues, including the National Israeli Committee for Evaluation of Living Organ Donors, the National Advisory Committee to the Minister of Health for Enacting a Law Concerning the Terminally Ill, the National Advisory Committee for Amendments of the Anatomy and Pathology Law, and the National Forum Concerning Organ Donations in Israel. In 1999 Steinberg received the Israel Prize for his monumental work Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics (1988–98, 2,740 pp.). Steinberg was the director of the Medical Ethics Unit and senior pediatric neurologist, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. (Bracha Rager (2nd ed.)