Renowned Psychiatrist Shares His Life Experiences and Extraordinary Work in the Medical Field as an Activist for Human Rights


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Dr. Herzl R. Spiro is a board-certified psychiatrist with over 57 years of professional excellence in the medical field. In his book, “Of Hope: A Memoir,” Dr. Spiro reflects on his life experiences, diving deep into human rights issues that have stemmed over the last century and longer and the great strives he made to better these problems. He also shares how through his long-term medical career he was able to improve mental health in communities.

In Dr. Spiro’s early years, he details how his father strived to help the Jews of Europe and worked on the establishment of Israel. He shares his personal experiences growing up in Vermont and his time being a part of the human rights movement of Dr. Martin Luther King. As an activist and medical practitioner, Dr. Spiro relays the years of rising hope for a better community mental health care system as he assisted in building programs at Johns Hopkins, Rutgers University and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Throughout the book, Dr. Spiro discusses many of the significant events he lived through. When the defunding by the Reagan administration took place, Dr. Spiro was working with residents in Milwaukee’s inner city and reveals the devastating consequences that occurred subsequently. In 1982, he worked on the absorption of immigrants to Israel. The efforts he participated in helped to integrate 1,250,000 immigrants who were penniless strangers from communist lands adapting to a new language and culture in Israel. The book also touches on the hope produced by the author’s remarriage and extraordinary family.

The book’s epilogue examines the current reality of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising awareness of the need to heal the long unfair relationship with Black Americans as well as an increasing deprived underclass. With his memoir, Dr. Spiro offers hope to readers by learning through the life experiences he has undergone including many important events in history up to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“Of Hope: A Memoir”

By Herzl R. Spiro MD Ph.D.

ISBN: 9781982254575 (softcover); 9781982251451 (hardcover); 9781982251444 (electronic)

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Balboa Press

About the author

Herzl R. Spiro MD Ph.D. was educated at Vermont, Harvard, Rutgers, New York Hospital and Johns Hopkins. He helped organize medical care for Reverend King’s marches and served the Jewish Agency Absorption Committee for 20 years. Dr. Spiro was faculty at Johns Hopkins and Rutgers before becoming Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at The University of Wisconsin-Madison where he is now Emeritus Professor. He has published numerous books and research articles. Dr. Spiro currently at 85 years still works as a psychiatrist full-time serving Milwaukee’s inner city.

General Inquiries:

LAVIDGE – Phoenix                        

Meghan Bowman

480-306-6597

mbowman@lavidge.com

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