Scienceהלנה כגן

Helena Kagan

Helena Kagan was a pediatrician in Jerusalem, the first pediatrician in the country, who received the Israel Prize in 1975.

1889 to 1978First pediatrician in the countryBikur Cholim pediatrics departmentTreating Jewish and Arab children

Born: 25 September 1889, Tashkent
Died: 24 September 1978, Jerusalem
Occupation: physician, activist
Party: General Zionists

Helena Kagan was born in 1889 in Tashkent

Helena Kagan was born in 1889 in Tashkent to Moshe and Miriam Kagan. Her family lost its means after her father's career was cut short over religion. She had a brother, Noach.

She went to Switzerland in 1905 and studied medicine at the University of Bern. She finished in 1910 and specialized in pediatrics.

In 1914 she moved to the Land of Israel with her mother and settled in Jerusalem. She opened a clinic at home and trained Jewish and Arab young women as nurses. She later headed the children's ward at the Meir Rothschild hospital until 1925 and ran the medical work at a home for Arab children in the Old City until 1948.

In 1936 she founded the pediatrics department of Bikur Cholim Hospital and led it until 1975. That year she also married violinist Emil Hauser. She was active in WIZO and served on the National Council for the General Zionists in the 1930s.

She kept seeing patients at home in her later years. She died in 1978 and was buried on Har HaMenuchot.