Israel Weinstein

Israel Weinstein (May 26, 1893 – May 25, 1975) was an American physician and bacteriologist, best known for his work in public health in New York City, especially during the 1947 New York City smallpox outbreak as the Commissioner of Health of the City of New York from March 13, 1946, to November 3, 1947, under Mayor William O'Dwyer.

Early life and education

Israel Weinstein was born in New York City, New York, 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 of New York City, and later in the Bronx. 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 in 1913, followed by a masters in 1915 at Columbia University, in 1917 he received his D.Sc from New York University.

Career

During his initial days, he was employed as a biology teacher at Morris High School in the Bronx from 1914 to 1922.

Weinstein lectured on medical and scientific topics for the New York City Department of Health, the New York Public Lecture Bureau, the New York Botanical Gardens from 1920 to 1928. He worked as an instructor of physiology and at Columbia University 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 New York University.

Weinstein published Extracts of Antibodies Obtained from Specific Precipitates of Typhoid-Antityphoid Serum Complex in the Journal of Immunology 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 in 1934, and An Outbreak of Smallpox in New York City, about the 1947 New York City smallpox outbreak, among others.

Medical career In 1917, Weinstein joined the United States Army as a first lieutenant. He served in the Army Expedition Force, seeing action during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. 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. Shortly after his discharge from the Army after the war, he was appointed to the position of New York City Health Commissioner.

1947 Smallpox Outbreak

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