Dr. Clarfield was brought up and educated in Toronto, receiving his MD from the University of Toronto in 1975. He went on the specialise first in Family Medicine, then Community Medicine and Public Health and finally in Geriatrics. Together with his wife, Dr. Ora Paltiel, also a physician (haematology and clinical epidemiology), he moved to Montreal where he was with the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University from 1978 -1992. During that period, Clarfield was Chief of Geriatrics at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis – Jewish General Hospital as well as head of the McGill University Division of Geriatric Medicine. As well, he was the Assistant Dean of Students at the Faculty of Medicine from 1989-92 and reached the rank of Professor. He maintains an adjunct status at McGill University. In 1992 he moved to Israel where he worked from 1994-2001 as Head of the Division of Geriatrics at the Ministry of Health in Jerusalem, after which he was Chief of Geriatrics at the Soroka Hospital, a 1,100 bed acute care institution from 2001-2011 and the Sidonie Hecht Professor at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-sheva where he now enjoys Emeritus status. From 2009-18 he was the Director of the Medical School for International Health of the Ben-Gurion University. Dr Clarfield's research interests include Alzheimer disease and the related dementias, ,healthy ageing, Global Health, the organization of health care services, medical history and ethics. As well, he publishes medical humour, book reviews and miscellaneous pieces in various newspapers. A bit of a journalistic nudnik [aka gadfly], he has published many letters to the editor in publications around the world. Dr Clarfield is married with 3 children, none of whom seem to want to enter the field of medicine, despite the fact that he has not insisted that they become geriatricians. He enjoys several hobbies, including performing folk music with his band, "The Unstrung Heroes".