Adler, Alexandra (1901–2001)
Adler, Alexandra (1901–2001)
American neurologist and psychiatrist. Born Sept 24, 1901, in Vienna, Austria; died Jan 4, 2001, in New York, NY; dau. of Alfred Adler (pioneer psychoanalyst) and Raissa Timofeyevna Epstein Adler (radical socialist); sister of Valentine Adler (editor); received medical degree at University of Vienna; m. Dr. Halfdan Gregersen (erstwhile dean and professor of Romance languages at Williams College), 1959 (died 1980).
Among the earliest women to practice as a neurologist in Vienna, fled the fascist regime of Dollfuss and came to US (1935); taught and practiced at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital; joined the faculty of New York University (1946), becoming a full professor of psychiatry at its medical school (1969); an expert on schizophrenia, worked at the New York City Department of Correction for 20 years; was medical director of the Alfred Adler Mental Hygiene Clinic in Manhattan; best known for her work on brain damage and alexia, was also among the first to bring attention to post-traumatic stress syndrome; writings include Guiding Human Misfits.