Deborah S Ebel

Deborah S. Ebel (known to clients and friends as Debby), grew up in the Bronx, New York, with her sister, and was raised by a father who came to the United States in 1922 as a 15 year old from Bielitz, Austria (now Biala-Bielsko, Poland) and by a mother who was first generation born in the United States from a family that emigrated from Russia. Deb... by's father came to the United States speaking only German, but by working primarily as an errand boy for businesses located in lower Manhattan, while at the same time attending school full time, he ultimately became a physician. He treated thousands of victims of spinal cord injuries especially from World War II. During Debby's childhood, her family lived in special quarters on the grounds of the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital, where her father was Chief of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. There, she saw first-hand, both the accomplishments, and the disappointments, of this group of patients, learning to cope with their life changing disabilities. Debby's father became a Professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, with a dream that his two daughters would also become doctors. Debby was a straight A student at one of New York's special high schools which, although public, admitted only a fraction of applicants. She adored biology and placed second in New York City's Science Fair during high school. She wanted to be an anesthesiologist (according to her father, "this was an excellent field for a woman doctor with a family"). Unfortunately, in college, Debby received a "D" in organic chemistry, forcing her to see the writing on the wall. Perhaps influenced by the culture of the 1960's, she switched her major to American Intellectual History. She began what ended up as a life path in the social sciences, no longer in the physical sciences. Debby's sister (her only sibling) came closer to their father's dream, going on to receive a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Genetics at M.I.T. and a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at Harvard in ...Read More