RAPHAEL ROZIN

December 1936 – April 14 1985

Professor Rafi Rozin (MD),

Israeli physician and Lieutenant Colonel in the Israel Defence Force

BIOGRAPHY

Rafi Rozin was born in Jerusalem to Mina and Shmuel Rozin. He completed his medical studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1962, and specialised to rehabilitation medicine.

At the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israel Defence Ministry decided to create a unit to treat spinal cord injuries in Israel. At the recommendation of Sir Ludwig Guttman from England, a leading rehabilitation medicine specialist, Dr. Rozin was appointed to head the unit, despite his young age. In 1971 Rozin went abroad for training at rehabilitation centers, and in 1973 he founded the spinal cord injury unit at Tel Hashomer Hospital. As the unit was getting organised, the Yom Kippur War broke out. During the war the medical staff treated, in temporary structures, with inadequate  equipment, and in hard conditions, many injured soldiers who were sent from the battlefields. During Rozin’s tenure, the rehabilitation unit treated wounded soldiers, victims of terrorism, border incidents, and the wounded from Operation “Peace for Galilee”.

In 1976 Rozin was appointed to head the Rehabilitation Department at Tel Hashomer. The building was completed three years later. Rozin was involved in all aspects of designing and building the Tel Hashomer Rehabilitation Center.

In 1977 he was appointed associate professor at the Tel Aviv University Medical School. Between 1978-1985 he served as head of rehabilitation medicine and the department of occupational therapy. He was appointed full professor following the publication of many research papers on the topic of rehabilitation.

While working at the hospital, Prof. Rozin was involved in rehabilitation activities throughout the country. including serving on committees for the Ministries of Health, Welfare, and Defence, and the National Insurance Institute. In addition, Rozin was active in counselling the disabled in Kibbutzim. He lobbied the Knesset for a law to mandate handicapped accessibility in public places, which was passed in May of 1982. Rozin had many ideas for easing the life of the handicapped and promoting their rehabilitation. For example, at the start of the computer age, he worked to introduce electronic technology to help the handicapped.  He worked to design assistive devices and adapted technologies for the special needs of his patients. He promoted liberal