Mer, Professor Gideon
(1894-1961). A doctor, an international authority on epidemiology and preventive medicine. Immigrated from Russia in 1914. Trumpeldor's adjutant in the mule drivers battalion in Gallipoli, and a volunteer for the Hebrew Battalion at the end of the First World War. Between 1920 and 1921 was a member of the work battalion and of Kibbutz Tel Yosef. Subsequently worked in the Strauss Institute for Malaria Research in Jerusalem. In 1941 volunteered for the British Army. From 1941 to 1943 headed the anti-malaria laboratory unit in Iran and Iraq, with the rank of Lieut. Col. From 1943 to 1945 served in Burma. During the War of Independence served as a doctor in the Yiftach and Oded Brigades. From 1949 to 1951 was head of the preventative medicine branch in the IDF, and from 1951-52 served in the management of the Ministry of Health. Chairman of the Preventive Medicine Institute of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
