Schlesinger, Hilde S.

Hearing. Born in Vienna, Austria; being Jewish, she and her family fled the Nazi occupation of Austria at age 9. After a year in a French refugee camp, she and her family emigrated to the U.S. While attending college at the University of Arizona, worked at the Arizona School for the Deaf, her first involvement with deaf persons. Earned an M.D. degree from the University of Louisville and wokred a time for the U.S. Public Health Service. Later completed a residency in psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1968, established what is now the UCSF Center on Deafness, providing psychological and psychiatric services to deaf persons plus research and training. With Kathryn Meadow, conducted groundbreaking research on the linguistic, social and cognitive development of deaf children; published the research in Sound and Sign: Childhood Deafness and Mental Health and other publications. Received several professional honors and awards. Died at San Francisco from Parkinson's disease.