Denise Kandel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Denise Kandel
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| Born |
Denise Bystryn
February 27, 1933 Paris, France
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Bryn Mawr College BA Columbia University MA, PhD |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Social medicine, epidemiology |
| Institutions | Sociomedical Sciences and Psychiatry at Columbia University and Department of Epidemiology of Substance Abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute |
Denise Kandel (born February 27, 1933) is an American scientist. She studies how health and society are connected (a field called medical sociology). She also studies how diseases and health conditions spread in groups of people (a field called epidemiology).
Dr. Kandel is a professor at Columbia University. She is also a leader in a department at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She is famous for her long-term studies. These studies looked at how people first start using different things, starting in the 1970s.
Contents
Who is Denise Kandel?
Her Early Life and Family
Denise Kandel was born in Paris, France. Her parents were Jewish and moved to France from Poland in the 1920s. They came to France to go to college.
Her father, Iser Bystryn, became a chief engineer at a truck factory. Her mother, Sara Wolsky Bystryn, learned to make hats and corsets. Denise was born in 1933, two years after her parents married.
Denise also had a younger brother, Jean-Claude Bystryn. He became a well-known skin doctor (dermatologist) and scientist in America. Her parents spoke French, but they also spoke Yiddish at home.
Growing Up in France
Denise's family lived near Paris. She went to a primary school for girls. Her family did not go to synagogue and celebrated Christmas.
In 1941, when Denise was eight, World War II was happening. Her father was arrested because he was a "foreign Jew." He was sent to a camp. He later escaped and found his family in southern France.
During the war, Denise and her brother had to hide in different places. Denise stayed in a convent (a type of monastery) for a while. Later, she lived with another family near Toulouse. In 1949, her family moved to the United States.
Life in the USA
When Denise arrived in the US, she went to the Lycée Français de New York. She finished her high school diploma there in just one year. At 17, she was accepted into Bryn Mawr College. She finished college quickly because of money reasons.
After college, she moved back to New York. She became a PhD student at Columbia University. She studied how medical students choose their special field in medicine.
While studying, she met Eric Kandel. He was a neuropsychiatrist. He later won the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his work on memory. Denise and Eric married in 1956. They have two children.
What Awards Has She Won?
Denise Kandel has received several important awards for her scientific work:
- 1985 – Senior Scientist Research Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
- 2002 – R. Brinkley Smithers Distinguished Scientist Award.
- 2003 – Prevention Science Award.
