Itzhak Brook, 83, of Washington, D.C., died of cancer on January 10, 2025 surrounded by his family at home.

A hallmark of his life was turning adversity, whether on the battlefield in combat, or losing his vocal cords to cancer, into an opportunity to help others.

Itzhak's wide-ranging career as a physician included pioneering antibiotic treatments that helped dramatically reduce the need for childhood tonsillectomies. He chaired the FDA committee evaluating the first antiviral treatment for HIV, and served for 26 years in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, where he developed treatments for the effects of nuclear and biological warfare. After losing his vocal cords to cancer, he became a global advocate and educator for head and neck cancer patients.

Itzhak was born in 1941 to Chaya and Baruch Brook in Afula in present-day Israel. His mother, Chaya, from Poland, and his father, Bernard, from Austria, both escaped the Holocaust and met in British-Mandate Palestine. Chaya was a seamstress and Bernard was a welder and professional soccer player on the Hapoel Haifa team. As a child, Itzhak played with toys that his father built from wood and metal scraps. Inspired by his father, Itzhak loved to make toys for his own children and grandchildren from paper, cardboard, and wood. After his parents' deaths, Itzhak cared for his much younger sister, Zipi.

Itzhak grew up in Haifa, Israel, and graduated from Ha'Reali H'ivry High School. He was drafted by the Israeli Defense Forces in 1959 before he attended Hebrew University's Hadassah School of Medicine (earning his MD in 1968) and Tel Aviv University (earning his M. Sc. in 1972). In 1966, he married Zahava Goldwasser; they had two children in Israel, Dafna and Danny.

He served as a medic in the Israeli Medical Corps during the Six-Day War in 1967 and as a Lieutenant battalion physician during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, where he proudly treated soldiers from all sides of the conflict, including Egyptians and Jordanians. After crossing the Suez Canal in his ambulance, Itzhak was severely wounded by artillery fire. He wrote about his experience in his book, "In the Sands of Sinai: A Physician's Account of the Yom Kippur War." Later he spoke extensively in both Israel and America about his PTSD and encouraged other veterans to seek mental health support.

In 1974, Itzhak, his wife, and their two children moved to the United States, where they had a third child, Tammy. Their marriage ended in divorce. He completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In 1977, after joining the staff of the National Children's Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he began research on childhood tonsillectomies. Over six years of research (in test tubes, mice, and finally in patients), he identified an enzyme that shielded the streptococcus bacteria from conventional penicillin treatment. As a result of his research, resistant strep infections could now be treated with a new class of antibiotics; this became the standard-of-care across the world. The number of pediatric tonsillectomies dropped by 50% in the U.S., down from 600,000 annually in the 1970s to 289,000 in the 2010s. Itzhak liked to say that his own traumatic experience as a 5-year-old having his tonsils removed influenced his research, helping other children avoid the same painful procedure.

Itzhak never shied away from protecting his own children. In 1978, a burglar entered Itzhak's home at 2AM as his three young children slept upstairs. Using his BB gun for defense, Itzhak held the suspect in his kitchen until police arrived, prompting the Washington Post headline "MAN WITH UNLOADED TOY NABS BURGLARY SUSPECT" (link) and the quote from Itzhak, "I've taken prisoners of war before, but never in my own home."

At the height of the AIDS/HIV crisis, Itzhak was at the center of the debate of how to treat the new disease. As the chairman of the FDA's Anti-Infective Advisory Committee in 1987, his committee was tasked with evaluating the first antiviral treatment for HIV: a medication called AZT. Leading contentious hearings, Itzhak voiced concern that the drug was being deemed safe based on a single study promoted by the pharmaceutical company. Despite facing intense public and political pressure to approve AZT, Itzhak said "the drug could actually be detrimental." He cast the lone dissenting vote (10-1), and the drug was approved over his objections, which he voiced widely in the press (BBC) and medical community (JAMA) . Decades later, he was validated when the original study presented for AZT's approval was declared seriously flawed, and HIV/AIDS treatment protocols were revised to reduce reliance on the drug. See: AIDS and AZT Scandal

After several years at Children's National Hospital, Itzhak joined the United States Navy Medical Corps. He served for 26 years, holding the officer's rank of Commander, where he led research on treatments for infectious diseases resulting from nuclear and biological warfare at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, including development of protocols for anthrax infection. He was proud to return to Israel on behalf of the U.S. Navy, and share his medical research with the Israeli Medical Corps.

Itzhak served as an expert witness physician on behalf of orphaned Vietnamese children injured in the infamous "Operation Baby Lift" disaster in Saigon in 1975, where a U.S. Air Force plane door opened at high-altitude, causing severe neurological injuries to scores of children. Itzhak examined 135 children in the U.S. and Europe on behalf of their families. As a U.S. Navy officer, he testified against his employer. When the Navy JAG attempted to stop his testimony, Itzhak refused to back down – compelling the trial judge to reprimand the government for witness tampering. He testified on behalf of the children in nine jury trials. In the end, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Government were held negligent and compelled to fund the children's rehabilitation.

At age 65, Itzhak was diagnosed with throat cancer. He underwent a total laryngectomy, the removal of his voice box. He became passionate about improving the care of people with laryngectomies, an underserved patient group. He continued to lecture widely, from China to Romania, using his new voice prosthesis. He authored the book " My Voice : A Physician's Personal Experience With Throat Cancer." He later published the book " The Laryngectomee Guide ," which is available for free and has been translated in 29 languages.

He is the author of 9 medical textbooks, 3 autobiographical books, 155 medical book chapters and over 700 scientific publications. He traveled to scores of countries around the world to lecture and educate physicians. He was an editor and associate editor of four medical journals. He was an adjunct professor of pediatrics and medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C.

In 1978, Itzhak was set up on a blind date with Joyce Reback, an attorney. He was impressed that she owned a power drill, something he had never before encountered in a woman. Itzhak was immediately captivated by her warm smile. He called Joyce his "treasure" who could "read my thoughts and feelings." They married in 1981 and had two children together (Yoni and Sara).

Itzhak's children and, later, his grandchildren, were the light of his life. Itzhak spent countless hours guiding his children through science experiments. Starting as pre-teens, they co-authored scientific journal articles with their father, studying bacteria samples from unusual places, ranging from library books to Metro escalator handrails.

Itzhak will always be remembered for his perseverance, unflappable moral compass, strong sense of self, and dedication to helping others. In the last days of his disease, he signed off his final email to a colleague: "I wish for peace in Israel soon."

Itzhak is survived by his wife, Joyce, and his five children, Dafna (James Abrea), Danny, Tammy, Yoni (Naomi Lewin), and Sara (Ryan Thompson), his five grandchildren (Darly, Talia, Elliot, Lev, Moses), and his sister, Zipi Brook Yankoviz.

Head and Neck Cancer Alliance Dr. Brook Memorial
Web: https://headandneckcanceralliance.salsalabs.org/drbrook