Jean-Jacques Askenasy

Jean-Jacques Askenasy (born 13 November 1929 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian-born Israeli neurologist.and sleep medicine specialist renowned for his pioneering research on sleep disorders in neurological conditions, particularly in patients with Parkinson's disease. He is a Member of Honor of the Romanian Academy and a Member of Honor of the Real Academy of Barcelona.

Education Askenasy received his Doctor of Medicine degree cum laude from Babeș–Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca in 1954. He completed postgraduate training in neurology at the Romanian Circle of Neuropathology of the Romanian Academy and obtained a Doctor of Science degree from the C. I. Parhon University in Bucharest in 1969.

Career After completing his medical training, Askenasy was appointed to academic and clinical positions in Romania, including chairman of the Department of Neurology at Băneasa University Hospital in Bucharest. In 1972 he emigrated to Israel, where he joined the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) and Tel Aviv University as a neurologist.

Between 1974 and 1975 he participated in neuroscience research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 1981 he was appointed associate professor of neurology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, where he participated in clinical and sleep-research projects, including work on Parkinson’s disease and sleep disorders.

In 1985 Askenasy became director of the Sleep Medicine Center at Sheba Medical Center and organized academic courses in sleep medicine at Tel Aviv University. In 1986 he was appointed professeur agrégé at the Pierre and Marie Curie University (Clinique Charcot) in Paris. From 1995 he served as clinical professor of neurology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine of Tel Aviv University. He later also held a professorship in forensic science at the Buchmann Faculty of Law.

Askenasy is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a member of the American Neurological Association.

Publications Author of 40 books, 33 book chapters, 115 scientific articles & case reports in the fields of Neurology and Sleep Medicine, 221 active participation in national and international congresses, and 46 invited lectures.

Awards 1964 – La Médaille des Journées Internationales de Grenoble, France 1981 – Honorary Citizen of the City of Yeruham, Israel 1995 – Médaille Pierre Castaigne, France 2019- Centenart Prize – Romania