Baruj Benacerraf

Jewish parents wanting their offspring to become a doctor is such a repeated trope; we must have mentioned it in at least a dozen profiles. You know the drill: 1. Child wants to go into a creative field against their parents' wishes. 2. Child succeeds. 3. Parents rejoice. 4. (In reality, parents still quietly mumble that the child should have become a doctor.)

In the case of Baruj Benacerraf, we're going to take that narrative and flip in on its head. His parents did not want him to become a doctor! Are we sure they were even Jewish?!

Indeed, they were; "Baruj" is a different way to spell "Baruch". Benacerraf was born in Venezuela to Jewish immigrants from Morocco and Algeria. His father wanted him to go to the family's textile business; instead, Baruj rebelled and went to medical school. (Despite an excellent academic record, he only got accepted into one... you know, antisemitism.) Baruj became a renowned immunologist, and won the Nobel for Medicine in 1980. We're sure his parents were happy?

Baruj only had one child: daughter Beryl, who... went into medicine, of course. Beryl became a pioneering radiologist who was one of the first to use ultrasounds to detect birth defects.

Now, HER parents were definitely happy!