Saul Merin Explained

Saul Merin
Birth Date:	25 August 1933
Birth Place:	Poland
Death Place:	Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality:	Israeli
Occupation:	Ophthalmologist
Known For:	Diagnosis and treatment of retinal and genetic eye diseases
Education:	Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Professor of Ophthalmology

Saul Merin (Hebrew: שאול מרין; August 25, 1933 – August 28, 2012) was an Israeli ophthalmologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of retinal and genetic eye diseases.^[1]

Biography

Saul Merin was born in Poland. He escaped deportation by train to Auschwitz on August 3, 1943, and was hidden by Aniela (Zawadzka) Szwajce in Będzin,^[2] a town in southwest Poland, until arrival of the Soviet army in January 1945.^[3] He immigrated to Israel in 1949.

In 1953-1960, he studied medicine at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces from 1961–1963, he trained in ophthalmology at Hadassah Medical Center under Professor I.C. Michaelson in 1963–1969. For two years, 1965-1967, he worked in Malawi and made several professional trips to Africa.

Medical and academic career

Merin was a professor of ophthalmology at Hadassah Hospital. He also worked at the St John Eye Hospital Group's East Jerusalem hospital together with Arab ophthalmologists. He was a visiting professor at The University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary for 25 years.^[4]

He did additional training at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada in pediatric ophthalmology, and at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois, USA for further study of the retina.

He was Professor of Ophthalmology at Hebrew University from 1979 until his death. He was Chairman of the Israel Ophthalmological Society from 1976–1982, Chairman of the Israel Society for Vision and Eye Research from 1985–1995, Chairman of the Israel Board of Ophthalmology from 1989–1995, and Chairman of the Unit of Ophthalmology at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus from 1979–1998.

Published works

• Book: Merin, Saul . Inherited Eye Diseases: Diagnosis and Management, Second Edition . Dekker . New York . 2005 . 978-1-57444-839-9 .
• Merin S . Obolensky A . Farber MD . Chowers I . A pilot study of topical treatment with an alpha2-agonist in patients with retinal dystrophies . J Ocul Pharmacol Ther . 24 . 1 . 80–6 . February 2008 . 18201138 . 10.1089/jop.2007.0022 .
• Blumenthal EZ . Papamichael G . Merin S . Combined hamartoma of the retina and retinal pigment epithelium: a bilateral presentation . Retina (Philadelphia, Pa.) . 18 . 6 . 557–9 . 1998 . 9869468 . 10.1097/00006982-199806000-00013.
• Merin S . Blair NP . Tso MO . Vitreous fluorophotometry in patients with senile macular degeneration . Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. . 28 . 4 . 756–9 . April 1987 . 2435672 . dead . https://archive.today/20130415040256/http://www.iovs.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=2435672 . 2013-04-15 .
• Merin S . Cataract formation in retinitis pigmentosa . Birth Defects Orig. Artic. Ser. . 18 . 6 . 187–91 . 1982 . 7171754 .
• Ticho U . Ivry M . Merin S . Brittle cornea, blue sclera, and red hair syndrome (the brittle cornea syndrome) . Br J Ophthalmol . 64 . 3 . 175–7 . March 1980 . 7387950 . 1039382 . 10.1136/bjo.64.3.175.
• Merin S . Auerbach E . Retinitis pigmentosa . Surv Ophthalmol . 20 . 5 . 303–46 . 1976 . 817406 . 10.1016/S0039-6257(96)90001-6.
• Merin S . Yanko L . Ivry M . Treatment of diabetic maculopathy by argon-laser . Br J Ophthalmol . 58 . 2 . 85–91 . February 1974 . 4856580 . 1017315 . 10.1136/bjo.58.2.85.
• Merin S . Crawford JS . The etiology of congenital cataracts. A survey of 386 cases . Can. J. Ophthalmol. . 6 . 3 . 178–82 . July 1971 . 4254831 .
• Merin S . Freund M . Retinopathy in severe anemia . Am. J. Ophthalmol. . 66 . 6 . 1102–6 . December 1968 . 5727647 . 10.1016/0002-9394(68)90818-0.

See also

• Health in Israel

Notes and References

1. Web site: Saul Merin, Friend to the Hospital Group, Passes Away in Jerusalem . https://web.archive.org/web/20130102111215/http://www.stjohneyehospital.org/saul-merin-friend-hospital-group-passes-away-jerusalem. 2 January 2013. St John Eye Hospital . 1943-08-03 . 2012-11-22.
2. http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=4832513 About Zawadzka
3. Web site: No Prayer, No Breakfast. https://archive.today/20080906090725/http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/magazine/magazine_new/mag_36/Prayer.html. dead. 2008-09-06. Mordechai Paldiel. Yad Vashem magazine. 2004.
4. Web site: Saul D. Merin, MD. https://web.archive.org/web/20120218212919/http://www.uic.edu/com/eye/Department/Publications/Annual%20Reports/AR2004/AR04%20alumni.pdf. 18 February 2012. Alumni & Friends. University of Illinois at Chicago.