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

