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Aleeza Gerstein, Zach Raizman among recipients of Manitoba Medical Service Foundation research grants
By MYRON LOVE In the (Saturday) April 17 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press, the Manitoba Medical Service Foundation (MMSF) took out a half page ad to highlight the organization’s 2021 grant recipients. Among the 12 researchers approved for grants this year were two members of our Jewish community – Drs. Aleeza Gerstein and Zach Raizman.
Raizman received funding to continue his research into the different types of insulin and the risks each poses of causing hypoglycemia – low blood sugar – with resulting deleterious health effects.
Gerstein and her team received funding to study recurring yeast infections – which, she notes, only affect women. “Essentially, there currently is no cure for this recurring problem,” she points out. “We are trying to understand the biological basis for these fungal infections. That is the first step to finding a way to prevent them. We will soon begin enrolling patient referred from gynecologists.”
Gerstein and Raizman are at different stages of their medical careers. While Raizman has still to complete his studies, Gerstein is already well established as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Manitoba where she is cross-appointed in the Departments of Microbiology and Statistics.
The daughter of Paul and Sherri Gerstein happily returned to her hometown to assume her current position after almost 20 years away. After high school, she relocated to Western University (formerly the University of Western Ontario) in London where she earned a B.Sc. in Ecology and Evolution. She followed up with a move to the West Coast – UBC – where she received her MSc. and Ph.D. in Zoology.
“I am an ecologist and evolutionary biologist by training,” she says. “I am fascinated by microbes. They grow everywhere, in every ecosystem. Yet, unlike plants and animals, we can’t see them with the naked eye. In the lab, however, we can do controlled experiments to try to understand how they work.”
Prior to returning to Winnipeg, she was a post-doctoral Fellow for four years at the University of Minnesota. During that period, she also spent a couple of months in the Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University.
The position at the University of Manitoba just happened to become available at the same time that she was looking for a job. “I am very fortunate that a full time, tenure track position became available here,” she says. “Now that I have children (a five-year-old and a newborn), I wanted to be back in Winnipeg. My entire family is here.”
Zach Raizman, on the other hand, is just completing his Internal Medicine residency program and will soon be on his way to Calgary to receive specialty training in endocrinology. (The endocrine system controls hormones.)
The study for which Raizman received funding, he reports, is almost done. “We did a study of the data of 30,000 patients with Type 2 diabetes who are taking insulin,” he explains. “We studied several different types of insulin to determine which ones carry a greater risk of causing hypoglycemia. We are in the process of writing the final report.”
The son of Ali and Louisa Raizman attended Gray Academy for Elementary School, and Shaftesbury High School for high school. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Winnipeg and medical degree at the University of Manitoba.
For Raizman, medicine is his second career. Growing up, he forged a career as an actor, musical theatre performer and singer/songwriter who released his first CD in February of 2007 when he was 12 (a feat that was documented in the pages of The Jewish Post & News).
Medical school, however, hasn’t left much time for other endeavours, he notes.
He says that he hopes to return to Winnipeg in a couple of years after his further training in Calgary.
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Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
Local News
Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.