Local News
Charles Marmar: From Montrose Street in Winnipeg to Park Avenue in New York
By GERRY POSNER Add yet another name to the list of Winnipeg Jews who became psychiatrists and who have achieved fame elsewhere. I speak of none other than Dr. Charles Marmar, formerly of Montrose Street in the south end of Winnipeg. Some readers may well remember his parents, Dr. Maurice Marmar and Pearl (Brook) Marmar. In fact, it was Dr. Maurice Marmar, either intentionally or not, who influenced his son Charles to follow a career into medicine. Charlie wll recalls , going as a kid with his father, a family doctor and surgeon, on rounds at the Victoria General Hospital and deciding then and there that he wanted to follow a similar path as his dad. He just went down a different path.
Charlie grew up in the south end of Winnipeg, having attended River Heights School,then Kelvin High School. He also played hockey with the River Heights Cardinals. After obtaining a BSc at the University of Manitoba in 1966, he entered medical school at the U of M and graduated with his MD in 1970. He was all of 24 when he graduated medicine.
Marmar soon departed for Toronto, where he competed his residency in psychiatry. He obtained a fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation and studied neuropharmacology at the University of Toronto in 1976. Charlie then completed another fellowship in traumatic stress and grief in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco in 1978.
After that, Marmar’s career really took off. In 1978, He advanced being a junior faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF to becoming a professor there, then Chief of Psychiatry at the San Francisco VA Hospital in 1996. In 2009, Marmar made a major move across the continent to New York, where he assumed the position of Lucius N. Littauer Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the New York University Langone Medical Center.
Currently, he is Peter S. Schub Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychiatry, Director of the Centre for Precision Medicine in Alcohol Use Disorder, and Executive Director of the Langone Health Military Family Centre in the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Those are a lot of titles, but they clearly indicate that Marmar is one of the movers and shakers in this area of medicine.
Marmar’s list of hospital appointments started in 1983 and continues to this day. As mentioned above, he presently sits as the Director of the NYU Langone Center for Precision Medicine in Alcohol Use disorder and PTSD. Moreover, he has been deeply involved since 1982 with a variety of other professional positions and Major Visiting Appointments. You have to take my word when I say that the list is expansive, too long for the Jewish Post. Yet, that list pales in comparison to the honours and awards that have come Marmar’s way in his illustrious career as a psychiatrist. I could not help but notice the very first mention of achievement for Marmar was his Honours standing in genetics at the School of Medicine at the University of Manitoba in 1966. That was the start of many moments of distinction right up to the present time. I also note that, among the many prestigious honours bestowed upon Charlie Marmar was the 1999 J. Elliot Royer Award as the Outstanding Bay Area Psychiatrist from the University of California, San Francisco. As well, He has published over 400 (not an error) articles on the epidemiology, neurobiology and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2022, Charlie was named Master Clinician as the outstanding physician across all specialties at NYU Langone Health.
Let’s just say that Charlie Marmar has put in serious time with his work on committees, many of them major and continuing to this day. In fact, Charlie was and still is the Chair of the Disaster Psychiatry Centers Special Review Committee for NIMH. He has worked over a period of years with veterans and that work is evidenced by the many committees he has worked with, particularly in the field of PTSD. This is an area of psychiatry where Marmar has much experience and has attained much fame. His focus has ranged from combat related conditions in veterans, including veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to assisting refugees and earthquake victims suffering from PTSD.This kind of work has led Marmar to conduct studies in psychopharmacology, psychopathology, psychobiology, all relating to PTSD.
Needless to say, Marmar has been a member of professional societies all over the world and, moreover, he has been involved with editorial boards and has authored many articles and been the editor for many publications.
With all that said, what I got a kick out of was when I asked a psychiatrist with whom I am friendly in Toronto, if he knew a Charles Marmar and he answered, “ Charlie, I remember him well from his days in Toronto (now over 50 years ago). He was a rising star.”
So, you take a kid from Montrose Street and without even a shove, years later he is settled in New York, regarded as one of the leaders in his field. He is still at it. And of course, a big part of his success he attributes to his wife Anne (Stern) whom he met at the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Centre where she was studying Dental Hygiene. They married in 1971 and are the proud parents of two sons, Eli and Daniel. They also have five grandchildren: Amalya, Liyora, Tziyon, Noah and Isaiah. The couple remains close to their family and friends from Winnipeg, now living in Toronto, New Jersey, Northern California, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere in the Winnipeg diaspora.
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First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
