health

D

Learning

In The

ADAM FINKEL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jewish medical
professionals
catch the spirit
of Detroit.

I

f the corridors of Woodward could talk,
you’d hear about a new generation of
medical professionals from near and far
who are training in the city and impacting
Detroit’s future.
You might spot them doing medical
research at Great Lakes Coffee or having
long study sessions at the Detroit Institute
of Arts late on Friday night or driving home
after a sleepless night in the ER, having
saved lives within our community. And
they’re often back at it before sunrise again
the next day — their relentless resolve is
much like the character of the city they’ve
come to love.

MICHAEL SILVERMAN
Michael Silverman, who grew up in New
York City and graduated from U-M,
began his medical studies at Wayne State
University. He lives in Detroit’s Riverfront
Towers. The third-year medical student
has found Detroit to be a
solid place to learn medi-
cally and views the clinical
system as unparalleled
because of the diversity
and scope of the patients.
When his mother
came to visit during Rosh
Hashanah, she stayed at
the Chabad of Greater
Michael
Downtown Detroit in
Silverman

Midtown, which rents out some of its space
on Airbnb.
Michael, who has felt safe and welcome in
the city, has found it cool to live in Detroit
as well. While here, he has been able to
attend Tigers’ games, go for runs along the
Riverfront and volunteer at the Earthworks
Urban Farm. Before he began his medical
studies, he did volunteer work on a farm in
Detroit’s North End. Michael will be pursu-
ing a residency around plastic surgery or
general surgery.

DR. REUT
RON PAGI
Reut Ron Pagi
is in the pedi-
atric residency
program at
Children’s
Hospital in
Gilad and Dr. Reut Ron Pagi
Detroit. She
grew up mostly
in California, but spent time in Israel and
went to medical school in Hungary at the
University of Szeged. While Reut was ini-
tially worried about Detroit’s reputation, she
has been pleasantly surprised.
She moved to the city two and a half years
ago with her husband, Gilad, and recently
had her her first child.
Like Silverman, she is an example of a
rapidly growing cohort of medical profes-

sionals who not only work in the city but
live in the city as well. Reut and Gilad live in
Detroit’s Lafayette Park, a short commute
from Children’s Hospital, and walkable to
many locations they frequent, including
Eastern Market, the Detroit Riverfront and
the Dequindre Cut.

DR. ELANA ACKERMAN
At age 9, Elana Ackerman relished child-
hood. She dressed up as a bee for Purim
and won an award for Shabbat observance
at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek; and she dove into
hobbies from jazz to tap
dance. At 11, she was diag-
nosed with leukemia. Her
treatment — over three
years — was at Children’s
Hospital in Detroit.
The world changed
in an instant for Elana,
Dr. Elana
for her parents, Sharyl
Ackerman
and Alan Ackerman of
Bloomfield Hills, and for many connected
to her. Inspired by Elana’s resolve, her Hillel
Day School English teacher Barbara Acker
went on a 100-mile bike ride to support leu-
kemia research. Acker described Elana, then
a young poet with her own semi-monthly
magazine, as a marvelous child with a
bright smile. Elana was inspired to survive,
but also to become a physician herself. Her

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January 26 • 2017

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