Israel Weinstein (May 26, 1893 – May 25, 1975) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology -- a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

, best known for his work in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, especially during the

1947 New York City smallpox outbreak The 1947 New York City smallpox outbreak occurred in March 1947 and was declared ended on April 24, 1947. The outbreak marked the largest mass vaccination effort ever conducted for smallpox in America. Within three weeks of the discovery of the o ...

as the

Commissioner of Health of the City of New York The Commissioner of Health of the City of New York is the head of the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The commissioner is appointed by the Mayor of New York City, and also serves on the city's Board of Health with the chairperson ...

from March 13, 1946, to November 3, 1947, under Mayor

William O'Dwyer William O'Dwyer (July 11, 1890November 24, 1964) was an Irish-American politician and diplomat who served as the 100th Mayor of New York City, holding that office from 1946 to 1950. Life and career O'Dwyer was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ire ...

Early life and education

Israel Weinstein was born in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, on March 26, 1893, the fourth of seven children of David Weinstein and Freida nee Shostakowsky, recent Jewish immigrants from Brest, Russia (now Belarus). He was raised in a tenement building on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

, and later in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. As a child, he experienced the death of two of his younger siblings from pneumonia, and he lost his father to heart disease in 1920 when he was only 27. Weinstein graduated with his Bachelor of Arts from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

in 1913, followed by a masters in 1915 at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, in 1917 he received his

D.Sc Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Career

During his initial days, he was employed as a biology teacher at Morris High School in the

from 1914 to 1922. Weinstein lectured on medical and scientific topics for the

New York City Department of Health The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is the department of the government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcem ...

, the New York Public Lecture Bureau, the New York Botanical Gardens from 1920 to 1928. He worked as an instructor of physiology and at

from 1929 to 1931. He also worked as an assistant professor of bacteriology and hygiene from 1931 to 1934 and an assistant professor of preventive medicine from 1934 to 1939 at

. Weinstein published Extracts of Antibodies Obtained from Specific Precipitates of Typhoid-Antityphoid Serum Complex in the

Journal of Immunology The ''Journal of Immunology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed medical journal that publishes basic and clinical studies in all aspects of immunology. Established in 1916, it changed its name to ''Journal of Immunology, Virus Research and Experimental C ...

in 1918, Quantitative Biological Effects of Monochromatic Ultraviolet Light in the Journal of the Optical Society of America in 1930, Bacteriological Study of Throats in Rheumatic and Non-Rheumatic Fever: With Special Reference to Hemolytic Streptococci in

JAMA Internal Medicine ''JAMA Internal Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association. It was established in 1908 as the ''Archives of Internal Medicine'' and obtained its current title in 2013. It covers all aspects ...

in 1934, and An Outbreak of Smallpox in New York City, about the

, among others.

Medical career

In 1917, Weinstein joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

as a first lieutenant. He served in the Army Expedition Force, seeing action during the

Battle of Saint-Mihiel The Battle of Saint-Mihiel was a major World War I battle fought from 12–15 September 1918, involving the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and 110,000 French troops under the command of General John J. Pershing of the United States against ...

. However, he was specifically tasked as a public health expert, producing his first public health campaign, directed at soldiers in order to reduce venereal diseases. Upon the end of World War One and the completion of his medical degree, in addition to working as a public health lecturer, Weinstein also served as a surgeon on the house staff of

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

from 1926 to 1928, and later an assistant physician in the outpatient department at the same institution from 1929 to 1930. He was a visiting attending physician at

Metropolitan Hospital Center Metropolitan Hospital Center (MHC, also referred to as Metropolitan Hospital) is a hospital in East Harlem, New York City. It has been affiliated with New York Medical College since it was founded in 1875, representing the oldest partnership bet ...

from 1928 to 1929, an adjunct visiting physician at

Montefiore Medical Center Montefiore Medical Center is a premier academic medical center and the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City. Its main campus, the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, is located in the Norwoo ...

from 1931 to 1934, and an attending bacteriologist at

Sea View Hospital Seaview Hospital was a historic tuberculosis sanatorium, now a national historic district located at Willowbrook on Staten Island, New York. The complex was planned and built between 1905 and 1938 and was the largest and most costly municipal fac ...

from 1934 to 1939. During the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he once again joined the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and was tasked with conducting public health lectures. Shortly after his discharge from the Army after the war, he was appointed to the position of New York City Health Commissioner.

Commissioner of Health of the City of New York

In May 1946 Weinstein was appointed as the Commissioner of Health of the City of New York by Mayor

. Within two days of his appointment Weinstein started work on cleaning up the

Marcy Houses The Marcy Houses, or The Marcy Projects, is a public housing complex built and operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and located in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and is bordered by Flushing, Marcy, Nostrand and Myrtle avenu ...

projects in Brooklyn and even left his 53rd birthday celebration in order to close a contaminated cannery at Camp LaGuardia.

1947 Smallpox Outbreak

In 1947, New York City experienced its first smallpox outbreak since 1912. Weinstein went to Mayor

to personally request $500,000 for the purchase of additional vaccine doses and to expand his staff for the campaign, which became the largest in American history. Within three weeks over 6,350,000 New Yorkers had been vaccinated against the disease, 5,000,000 of whom were vaccinated within the first two weeks. In the end, only 12 people had contracted smallpox, only two of whom died. Weinstein served as health commissioner for seven more months, resigning on November 3 due to "personality conflicts" and "jealousy from those above him due to his flamboyant nature and frequent news appearances". He would go on to serve as the director of the Bureau of Health Education until 1949 when he retired.

Later life

Weinstein would go on to lecture occasionally internationally, but never married and had no children; his parents and five of his six siblings predeceased him. Weinstein died on May 25, 1975, in Brooklyn.

References

External links

Dr. Weinstein speaking to the public about the importance of getting the smallpox vaccine on Apr 23, 1947

Dr. Weinstein's own writeup on the 1947 smallpox outbreak

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinstein, Israel 1893 births 1975 deaths Scientists from New York (state) Commissioners of Health of the City of New York American bacteriologists