Joav Merrick, MD, MMedSci, DMSc, born and educated in Denmark, is Professor of Pediatrics, Child Health and Human Development affiliated with the Division of Pediatrics, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Mt Scopus Campus, Jerusalem, Israel, Kentucky Children’s Hospital, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States, Professor of Public Health at the Center for Healthy Development, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States, the Medical Director of Health Services, Division for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, Jerusalem, and the Founder and Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Israel.