Hanan Costeff

Hanan Costeff (1926 to 2005) was an Israeli pediatric neurologist, researcher and teacher. Born in Peoria, Illinois, he graduated in medicine from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1951 and emigrated to Israel with his young family, where he worked as a pediatrician in Kiryat Shmona and Beer Sheva and traveled to kibbutzim and moshavim treating children in the well-baby clinics outreach program. After postdoctoral training in pediatric neurology at the Child Study Center at Yale University, he headed the Child Development Unit at Tel Hashomer Hospital and later founded the Child Development Center at the Lowenstein Rehabilitation Medical Center. He published about 40 original papers, taught at the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, mentored a generation of Israeli pediatric neurologists, and described the syndrome that carries his name, Costeff syndrome. He challenged entrenched theories about intellectual disability, testified on medical neglect in the Beit Tina trial and questioned the widespread use of Ritalin.