A pediatrician trained in Germany and Russia, specializing in the care of infants and mothers, Roza Shabad-Gawronska was president of the OZE/TOZ (Jewish Health Care Society) in Vilna on the eve of World War II. In the Vilna ghetto, she established all the medical and medico-social institutions for young children, including the orphanage and day care center. She was assassinated with the children of the orphanage in September 1943.

Erika Landau (1931-2013) was a psychotherapist and educator known for her interest in giftedness and creativity. The fact that she had survived the Holocaust shaped her personal and professional worldview, leading her to make significant contributions to the field of gifted education and creativity. She founded the Young Persons' Institute for the Promotion of Creativity and Excellence, which provided holistic support to gifted children in Israel, and was a model to the world.

Professor Hanna Herzog is a key advocate for feminism in Israel. Herzog combines academic achievement and social activism, emphasizing the importance of listening to diverse voices and critically examining marginalized people. Her journey into sociology was influenced by her own experiences of marginalization, starting from her time at Reali High School in Haifa, which ultimately led to her interest in research and the pursuit of knowledge.

Maria Anna Schirmann, a distinguished Viennese physicist, was unable to escape persecution by the Nazis and immigrate to the United States. Double discrimination against her as a Jew and a woman prevented her from obtaining an American university position and sealed her fate. 

Marilyn Safir is an Israeli-American psychologist who played a critical role as a feminist activist in sparking the Israeli women’s movement and in establishing the academic field of women’s studies in Israel. Her academic career has focused on sex, sexuality, and gender. 

Zoe Benjamin was a twentieth-century Australian teacher who pioneered liberal ideas in early child education, child rearing, and child psychology. She wrote and lectured, both in person and over the radio, in depth on these topics. Her work gained such distinction that she was known overseas in England as well as Australia.

Sadie Shapiro was an American-Jewish medical social worker who made pioneering contributions to the field of rehabilitation. She developed a novel service for wounded soldiers during World War II that integrated medical care, rehabilitation, and occupational retraining. Regarded as the nation’s top expert in the field of medical social work, Shapiro was hired by the AJJDC to oversee medical social services among Holocaust survivors in the DP camps of Europe.