Zvi Laron

Zvi Laron (Hebrew: צבי לרון, born February 6, 1927) is an Israeli paediatric endocrinologist. Born in Cernăuţi, Romania, Laron is a professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University. In 1966, he described the type of dwarfism later called Laron syndrome. His research opened the way to the treatment of many cases of growth hormone disorders. He was the first to introduce the multidisciplinary treatment for juvenile diabetes.
Laron was born on February 7, 1927, to a Jewish family in the Bukovinian city of Cernăuţi (Chernivtsi), then in Romania (now in Ukraine). At the age of 6, he moved with his family to another Bukovinian town, Rădăuți. Following the June 1941 invasion of the USSR by Nazi Germany, Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany and regained Northern Bukovina (which had been annexed by the USSR in 1940), the 14-year-old child and his family were deported to the concentration camps of Transnistria. There he had the chance to survive as a worker in a factory, which was founded in Mogilev by his uncle, Siegfried Sami Jagendorf (1885–1970), in order to save as many Jewish deportees as possible. Accordingly, Laron became a licensed iron turner.
After the end of the war, Laron was able to complete his high school studies and in 1945 he commenced his studies in medicine at the newly founded Medical School (Institutul medico-farmaceutic) in the town of Timișoara, in western Romania. He was an active member of the Zionist students movement "Hasmonea", and left Romania in 1947 in order to emigrate illegally to Eretz Israel, then Mandatory Palestine. The ship of Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe, "Pan York" (nicknamed in Hebrew "Kibbutz Galuyot") was captured in the Mediterranean Sea by the British navy and its passengers, including Laron, were deported to internment camps in Cyprus. After the proclamation of the State of Israel in May 1948, Laron was freed and allowed to enter the country. After his arrival, he joined the army and served in the "Dajani" and Tel Hashomer's hospitals. In 1952, he graduated with MD from the Hadassah Hospital Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem. He then did his internship at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. During 1954–1957, he was a research and clinical fellow in paediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, and at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, while his fellowships was focalized especially on childhood endocrinology.
At the end of 1957, Laron returned to Israel and joined André de Vries in founding the pediatric endocrinological clinic and research in Israel. In 1958 he was the founder of the Institute for Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology at the Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva, affiliated to Tel Aviv University, and led it until 1992. Laron was one of the first members of the teaching staff of the School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and had a leading role in elaborating the pediatric teaching program at that institution. From 1983 to 1997 Laron was Incumbent of the Irene and Nicholas Marsh Chair in Endocrinology and Juvenile Diabetes, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. He also founded the All-Country Center for Juvenile Diabetes and an endocrinological laboratory aimed to develop new methods of detecting hormones in blood. This laboratory worked in the frame of the Felsenstein Institute of Research.
Since 1998 Laron has been Professor Emeritus of Pediatric Endocrinology, Tel Aviv University and Director of Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Unit, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel.
In 1966, together with A. Pertzelan and S. Mannheimer, he described a new type of dwarfism (subsequently named "Laron Syndrome") of growth hormone resistance characterized by high levels of GH in serum, and low IGF-I levels. The Institute of Pediatric Endocrinology was among the first medical centers to produce and use in therapy the GH and IGF hormones and gonadotropin analogues. Laron was among the founders of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, (ISPAD). He founded and served as Editor in Chief of the European Society of Pediatric Endorinology (ESPE) and the Growth Hormone Research Society (GRS) of the scientific journals Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology and Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews.
Zvi Laron has received many honours, among them:
Thomas J. Mérimée, Zvi Laron
Growth Hormone, IGF-I and Growth: New Views of Old Concepts
Freund Publishing House, London, UK, 1996
Zvi Laron, John Kopchick
Laron Syndrome – From Man to Mouse
Lessons from Clinical and Experimental Experience
Springer, Heidelberg, 2011
Zvi Laron
Habilitation and Rehabilitation of Juvenile Diabetics: Proceedings
Williams and Wilkins company, 1970
Zvi Laron
The Adipose Child
S. Kager Pub, Basel, 1976
Zvi Laron, Avinoam Galatzer
Psychological Aspects of Diabetes in children and Adolescents
S.Karger Pub, Basel, 1983
Laron Z, Rogol AD
Hormones and Sport
Raven Press, New York, 1989
Z Laron, M Karp
Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors for Type 1 Diabetes (IDDM) Including a Discussion on the Autoimmune Basis
Freund Publishing House Ltd, London, UK, 1992
Zvi Laron, Otfrid Butenandt
Growth Hormone Replacement therapy in Adults: Pros and Cons. 1st Edition.
Feund Publishing House Ltd, London, UK, 1993
Laron Z, Parks JS
Lessons from Laron Syndrome (Ls) 1966–1992. A Model of GH and iGF-1 Action and Interaction. Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, Volume 24
S. Karger Pub, Basel, 1993
Zvi Laron, S. Mastragostino, C. Romano
Limb Lengthening for Whom, When & How?
Freund Publishing House Ltd, Londo, UK, 1995