Jacques S. Abramowicz, MD, FACOG, FAIUM
Chairman of the Board, AFKMC
Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Director, Ob/GynUltrasound,
Co-Director, Rush Fetal and Neonatal Medicine Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, USA
Prof. Jacques S. Abramowicz is the Frances T. and Lester B. Knight Professor at Rush University in Chicago. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology with special training in Ultrasound and Maternal Fetal Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) and the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society (AGOS). He was on the Board of Governors of AIUM until 2006 and is the past Chair of its Bioeffects Committee. He was recently elected as the United States (AIUM) councilor on the Board of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology and Chair of its Safety committee. He is the Chair of the Illinois section of ACOG. He is the recipient of the 2011 March of Dimes Jonas Salk Leadership award. He is the author of more than 140 peer-reviewed and 250 other articles, books, book chapters and presentations. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as a battalion physician in Armoured Brigade 7 (“Hativah 7”) and as Chair of the Medical Committee of the Army Recruitment Center.
Prof. Steven L. Warsof
Secretary, AFKMC
Professor, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Prof. Steven Warsof received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and is a graduate of Yale University School of Medicine. He did his training in Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as Maternal Fetal Medicine at George Washington Univ. Medical Center, and Georgetown University in Washington DC, and at Kings College Hospital London, UK. He currently serves as Professor in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine in the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. He is also the Director of the Prenatal Diagnosis program. He is a Senior Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, and a member of the American College of Ob-Gyn, Maternal Fetal Medicine Society and International Society of Prenatal Diagnosis. He is a volunteer in the Israeli Emergency Medical Corps through American Physicians Fellowship for Israel and has done volunteer work in Israeli hospitals and Army. He is on the executive committee of Temple Emanuel in Virginia Beach,Va. He is married with six children.
Prof. Peter A. Gottlieb
Treasurer, AFKMC
Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine
Barbara Davis Center
University of Colorado at Denver
Prof. Peter A. Gottlieb received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and then attended UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, from which he graduated in 1984. Dr Gottlieb completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He then continued his fellowship training in endocrinology and metabolism there and worked in the laboratory of Dr. Aldo Rossini. In 1990, after completing his fellowship, he moved to the Weizmann Institute in Israel to do post-doctoral training in T cell immunology with Dr. Irun Cohen. After working through Gulf War I, he returned to UMass and joined the staff as Clinical Director of Diabetes. He subsequently joined the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in 1995, where he is now a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine and the Director of the Translational Research Unit at the Barbara Davis Center. Dr. Gottlieb has collaborated with Drs. George Eisenbarth, John Hutton, Marian Rewers, Satish Garg and other members of the BDC since coming there. In addition he has worked with colleagues throughout the world to improve the detection of T cell responses in human type 1 diabetes and is a member of the IDS T Cell Workshop. His current research areas of interest include the immunology of type 1 diabetes with a focus on novel autoantigens, innate immune system abnormalities that contribute to disease phenotype and intervention trials to prevent or reverse type 1 diabetes. He had led several multi-center trials in new onset type 1 diabetes and is an active member of the Steering Committee for Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet and the Immune Tolerance Network, both NIH sponsored trial groups.
Annie Abramowicz.
Board Member, AFKMC
Born and raised in Israel, Annie went to high-school in Tel Aviv. Upon graduation, she joined the Israel Defense Forces where, after basic training, she worked in the army social services, with wounded soldiers and their families. After her military service, she received a BA in social work from the School of Social Work at the Tel Aviv University. She worked as a social worker for several years and then in the academic accreditation unit at the Tel Aviv University. She accompanied her husband, Prof. Jacques Abramowicz, to the USA in 1987 and after teaching at Hebrew School in Norfolk Virginia, returned to college and obtained a certificate as a travel consultant. She worked in a travel office, specializing in travel to Israel until moving to Chicago. She was a fund raiser for NATAL, a non-political, non-for-profit Israeli organization, involved with psychological trauma in terror victims.
Susan Bondy
Board Member, AFKMC
Nationally Syndicated Financial Columnist,
Author and Business Owner
Susan Bondy has a rich background covering many fields: from professional money management, to corporate management, from writing books to appearing on television, from radio and newspapers to boardrooms of regional hospitals, and chambers of commerce. Susan has worked for large banks and giant Wall Street firms in top positions and had started her own company in 1982. From 1981 to 2004 her weekly column “Bondy on Money” appeared in over six hundred newspapers with readership exceeding 20 million. Ms. Bondy has appeared on over 200 television shows including: Good Morning America (6 times) and the Today Show (8 times). She has done more than 300 radio shows including a weekly segment on NPR’s Sunday Edition of All Things Considered. In 2004 Susan Bondy decided to follow her personal dream and life-long passion – Israel – her childhood home. Bondy returned to New York, volunteered full-time – for the Israeli Consulate and other organizations, including the Brand Israel Group, the Rabin Medical Center, the America Israel Friendship League and many others.
Prof. Steven J. Czinn, MD
Board Member, AFKMC
Professor and Chairman of the Dept. of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Chief of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Dr. Czinn came to the University of Maryland from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, from which he earned his medical degree, in the spring of 2006. In Ohio, he had served as professor of pediatrics and pathology and chief of the division of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. Dr. Czinn’s research interests focus on mucosal immunology, gastrointestinal infections, inflammatory bowel diseases and the Helicobacter pylori micro-organism, which causes peptic ulcers. He is the lead author or co-author on more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has served as an associate editor of the American Journal of Gastroenterology since 2003. He’s also served as a reviewer for more than 15 academic journals and is currently acting as Chair of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Committee at the American College of Gastroenterology, Chairman of the NASPHGAN Research Committee, and member of both the Scientific Advisory Board and Pediatric GERD Newsletter for the Children’s Digestive Health Foundation. Most recently he has been asked to update the Children’s Digestive Health Foundation educational slide set on Pediatric GERD, and a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association.
AFKMC’s Newest Board Members:
Max Koppel
Board Member, AFKMC
Dr. Max Koppel is a Urologist and ‘Elder Statesman’ of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of Philadelphia, receiving his medical degree at “Jeff” in 1957.
Among his many exemplary accomplishments, he was deployed to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, November 1, 2004-June, 2011, achieved rank of Captain (06) Commissioned Corps Reserves (US PHS), Office of the United States Surgeon General, and organized a national program for medical professionals in volunteer service for disaster relief assignments throughout the US.
Pastor Patrick Neff, AZ
Board Member, AFKMC
Church Ministries Director for The Friends of Israel Ministries.
Pastor Neff organizes and hosts an annual “Night to Honor Israel” fundraiser for AFKMC in AZ
Lana Pinkenson, PA Accountant, Financial Advisor, Philadelphia Philanthropist
Board Member, AFKMC
Lana is a community activist, synagogue leader, and philanthropist. She is a recognized leader for Philadelphia’s chapter of American Friends of Ben Gurion University., and personally supports a number of synagogues and other Jewish causes in Greater Philadelphia.
Jonathan Kaufman, VA, Research Scientist,
Board Member, AFKMC
In 2011 Kaufman Co-Chaired Chemical and Biological Defense Conference in Eilat, Israel
Joseph Puder
Board Member, AFKMC
Native Israeli, Columnist, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of StandWithUs, former fundraising Director for B’nai B’rith, founder of the InterfaithTaskforce for American and Israel (ITAI)
Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum
Board Member, AFKMC
President Emeritus, Gratz College, and visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.
He is a specialist in Biblical history, the paleography and epigraphy of ancient Semitic languages, and American Jewish history. He has served as a rabbi in Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox congregations. Prior to his nomination to the Board, Dr. Rosenbaum has accepted the role of Co-Chair (along with Annette Sutter) of the Educational Supervisory Committee for the ‘Brick-by-Brick’ National Awareness Campaign.
Rabbi Joshua Gruenberg
Board Member, AFKMC
Spiritual leader of Congregation Beth El, Yardley, PA.
Rabbi Gruenberg is the president of the Bucks County Board of Rabbis, a member of the national UJC rabbinic cabinet. He is a regional & national “up & coming” community leader, with strong Israel credentials.
Steve Schimmel
Board Member, AFKMC
Executive Director, Jewish Federation of Cumberland, Gloucester & Salem Counties, (Vineland, NJ).
He is the youngest Jewish Federation Director in North America. Schimmel was designated for the State of Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Young Jewish Diplomatic Seminar, and participates regularly in national leadership programs.