30 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022
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HEALTH
parents, Earl and Louise, both
physicians, refused to send
him to a state school for deaf
children and instead enrolled
him in public schools. He
drew support and inspiration
from both, especially his
mother.
“Every successful younger
person with a disability I’ve
met had supportive parents
or mentors,” Zazove said. “I
think that’s also what really
allowed me to be so success-
ful. I was always told I could
do what I wanted. Perhaps
the fact that my mother grew
up poor and had to overcome
many obstacles to become
a physician indicated to me
that many obstacles can be
overcome with perseverance
and hard work.”
His mother, Louise
Tumarkin Zazove, graduated
from Hunter College and
became the first female med-
ical student in her class at
Chicago Medical School. She
graduated in three years by
attending classes seven days a
week during World War II.
Zazove matriculated at
Rutgers Medical School, then
transferred to and graduated
from Washington University
School of Medicine in
1978. He also graduat-
ed with honors from the
Executive Master’s Program
at the Kellogg School of
Management at Northwestern
University in 1994. He has
authored two books, includ-
ing an autobiography, When
the Phone Rings, My Bed
Shakes: Memoirs of a Deaf
Doctor.
“When I started in practice,
there was little support for
and recognition of the health
issues that people with dis-
abilities have,” he said. “As a
physician with hearing loss,
I couldn’t hear the beeper
go off and there was no text
available to read, just a voice
I couldn’t understand or
even hear. Now we have cell
phones that vibrate, with text
that can be read and respond-
ed to.”
Along with his clinical
practice and research, he
has served on Michigan
Medicine, regional, statewide
and national committees
such as the Association of
Medical Professionals with
Hearing Losses, the Division
of Deafness for the State of
Michigan, the Association
of Departments of Family
Medicine, the advisory board
for the National Center for
Deaf Health Research, the
Society of Teachers of Family
Medicine, and the Family
Medicine Department’s
Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion Committee.
CARRYING FORTH DR.
ZAZOVE’S LEGACY
To commemorate all that
Zazove has contributed to
the Department of Family
Medicine, to his patients,
especially those who have
disabilities, and the impactful
research he has conduct-
ed and published over the
decades, the Department of
Family Medicine is establish-
ing the Philip Zazove, M.D.
Disability Health Endowment
Fund at Michigan Medicine.
The fund will promote
and support disability
efforts in the Department of
Family Medicine and across
Michigan Medicine, includ-
ing patient care, research,
education and community
outreach, with an overarch-
ing goal of access, equity and
inclusion.
Some of the programs
Family Medicine faculty have
established during Zazove’s
tenure to help those with dis-
abilities include an adaptive
sports and fitness program
for those with disabilities
and MDisability, a collabo-
rative program that focuses
on improving the inclusion
of people with disabilities in
healthcare research, educa-
tion, practice, and communi-
ty engagement.
Zazove has also conducted
research impacting those with
disabilities, including a study
that utilizes an electronic
alert to remind clinicians
to ask older patients about
hearing loss. The study found
that the electronic prompt
significantly increased aware-
ness of hearing limitations
and audiology referrals for
at-risk patients. He has also
conducted research in cancer
prevention in those with pro-
found hearing loss and health
care use among those who are
deaf or hard of hearing.
Dr. Philip Zazove with Dr. George Dean, who, with his wife, Vivian,
contributed to the establishment of the George A. Dean, M.D. Chair of
Family Medicine in 2006. Dean was instrumental in putting in place
the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan,
along with family medicine departments across Michigan universities.
“WHEN I STARTED ... THERE WAS
LITTLE SUPPORT FOR AND
RECOGNITION OF THE HEALTH
ISSUES THAT PEOPLE WITH
DISABILITIES HAVE.”
— DR. PHILLIP ZAZOVE