Amiram Barkai

  Amiram Israel Barkai was born in Tel-Aviv, Israel on June 20th, 1936 to Isachar and Rachel Barkai. His parents came from Chiecnow, Poland and were part of the Fifth Aliyah arriving in the Land of Israel in 1933. Much of their families who remained in Poland would later perish in the Shoah.

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Amiram was raised in Kiryat Haim, a northern suburb of Haifa and as a child enjoyed sports, the natural surroundings and art, particularly drawing. In 1946, Amiram's parents gave birth to their second son, Arnon. At the age of 18 Amiram was conscripted into the Israeli Air Force and was accepted to the pilots training program. However, due to depth perception in vision problems he did not complete the course. During his time in the military, his mother became ill and passed away.

After the military, Amiram moved to Jerusalem. There he studied to become a research scientist and worked at Hadassah Medical Center. It was also in Jerusalem that he would meet Brooklyn born elementary school teacher Eileen Gaffin, with whom he would marry on March 17, 1965. They would have two children, both born in Jerusalem. His oldest daughter, A. Rachel was born on January 20th, 1968 and his younger son Ariel Dan was born on March 10th, 1969. During this period Amiram served in the IDF reserves and participated in the Six Day War serving in Jerusalem at the time of reunification of the city.

After completing his Doctor of Philosophy in Nueroscience degree at the Hebrew University, Amiram brought his family to his wife's native New York to complete his post-doctoral work at The New York State Psychiatric Institute and went on to become an associate professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His professional work was in Neuropsychopharmacology. He became one of the worlds foremost experts on the study of arachidonic acids. In the mid 1990's he worked at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Rockland County, New York and retired in 2001.