P
hilip Zazove, M.D., as a family physician
who has lived his life with profound hearing
loss, is well acquainted with overcoming
adversity. He’s had to prove himself repeatedly as
someone who is just as competent and capable as
someone without a disability.
This was true from an early age, as he attend-
ed public school as a child growing up in
Lincolnwood, Ill. (near Evanston and Skokie),
where he was one of the first deaf children main-
streamed in the northern Chicago suburbs. He
then attended college at Northwestern University.
Zazove, who is Jewish, decided to attend medi-
cal school. Due to his deafness, he faced countless
rejections by medical schools before finally gaining
admittance at Rutgers Medical School. Despite
those ongoing challenges, he was able to establish
his own medical practice in Utah in 1981, and
then joined the University of Michigan as an assis-
tant professor in 1989.
Zazove has served as the second George A.
Dean, M.D. Chair of Family Medicine in the
Department of Family Medicine at the University
of Michigan (U-M) since 2011. The chair was
established in 2006, thanks to a generous donation
by family medicine pioneer George A. Dean, M.D.,
and his wife Vivian, who have been long-time
leaders and philanthropists in the Metro Detroit
Jewish community.
Zazove is now ready to retire after a lifetime of
impressive achievements.
Michigan Medicine is establishing
a Disability Health Endowment in
honor of Dr. Philip Zazove, chair of
Family Medicine at U-M.
A Physician
Advocate for
Those with
Disabilities
ELIZABETH A. KATZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
28 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022
HEALTH
Dr. Philip Zazove