Helen Rehr (December 16, 1919 – February 13, 2013) was an American medical social worker, director of the Department of Social Work at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Early life

Helen Rehr was born in New York, the daughter of Philip Rehr and Rose Rehr. Both of her parents were born in Poland. She attended

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

for undergraduate studies,"Helen Rehr, MSW, PhD (1919-2013)"
Hunter College. before earning a master's degree from

Columbia University School of Social Work The Columbia University School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of Columbia University. It is the nation's oldest social work program, with roots extending back to 1898, when the New York Charity Organization Society's first s ...

(CUSSW) in 1945; she completed a doctorate there in 1970."CUSSW Mourns the Loss of Social Work Legend Helen Rehr (SW'45, DSW'70)"
Columbia University School of Social Work (February 16, 2013).

Career

Rehr joined the social work department of Mount Sinai Hospital in 1954, and retired as the department's director in 1986.Gary Rosenberg
"A Tribute to Dr. Helen Rehr"
''Social Work in Health Care'' 52(2013): 523-524. She helped establish international exchanges for social work scholarship, and helped create the International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health. She was on faculty at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Medical Center, where she was director of the Academic Division of Social Work. Rehr had more than a hundred scholarly publications. She was a member of the editorial board for the journal ''Social Work in Health Care'' from its founding in 1975, and was a visiting professor at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(1978-1979),

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

and

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

(1986). Academic and professional honors accorded to Rehr included the CUSSW Distinguished Service Alumni Medal in 2004; the "Social Work Pioneer" designation by the

National Association of Social Workers The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is a professional organization of social workers in the United States. NASW has about 120,000 members. The NASW provides guidance, research, up to date information, advocacy, and other resources f ...

Foundation; the Ida M. Cannon Award in 1975, induction into the Hunter College Hall of Fame, and into the Columbia University School of Social Work Hall of Fame. She was a fellow of the

New York Academy of Medicine The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health ...

Personal life and legacy

Rehr died in 2013, aged 93 years, at her home in New York City. She established both the Helen Rehr Scholarship Fund and the Helen Rehr and Ruth Fizdale Professorship Fund in Health and Mental Health, both at CUSSW. The Helen Rehr Center for Social Work Practice was founded in 2010.Helen Rehr Center for Social Work Practice
About Us, website.

References

External links

Finding aid to Helen Rehr papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
*Helen Rehr, Gary Rosenberg, and Doris Siegel
''The Changing Context of Social-health Care: Its Implications for Providers and Consumers''
(Psychology Press 1991). * Helen Rehr and Gary Rosenberg
''The Social Work-Medicine Relationship: 100 Years at Mount Sinai''
(Routledge 2012). *Gary Rosenberg and Helen Rehr
''Advancing Social Work Practice in the Health Care Field: Emerging Issues and New Perspectives''
(Routledge 2012). * M. Joanna Mellor and Helen Rehr
''Baby Boomers: Can My Eighties Be Like My Fifties?''
(Springer Publishing 2005). {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehr, Helen 1919 births 2013 deaths American social workers Hunter College alumni Columbia University School of Social Work alumni