Woolf, Lisa

Born in New York; deafened at age 2 from a high fever. Attended hearing high schools, functioning orally, until graduation from Agoura High School [Los Angeles, CA] in 1985. Attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, but soon transferred to Pepperdine University. Since Pepperdine did not offer medical courses, she transferred again to California State University, Northridge, where she first encountered interpreters and sign language. At age 21, her ankle and foot were crushed in an accident, forcing her to drop out of college for 1 year to recover. Returning to Pepperdine, she graduated in 1992 and applied to the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School. She was accepted, and 12 years later won her M.D. degree in dermatology and enteired private practice in Calabasas, CA. In 1999, she served as an advisor to the TV show ER, which wanted to accurately show a deaf doctor character.