Saul Merin

Saul Merin (; August 25, 1933 – August 28, 2012) was an Israeli ophthalmologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of retinal and genetic eye diseases.

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, a town in southwest Poland, until arrival of the Soviet army in January 1945. 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 to 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.

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 to 1982, Chairman of the Israel Society for Vision and Eye Research from 1985 to 1995, Chairman of the Israel Board of Ophthalmology from 1989 to 1995, and Chairman of the Unit of Ophthalmology at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus from 1979 to 1998.

Published works