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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