Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Psychosexual Therapist

Dr. Ruth Westheimer is a psychosexual therapist who helped to pioneer the field of media psychology with her radio program, Sexually Speaking. Although it began as a short program aired on Sundays after midnight, only one year later it was a live, one-hour show airing at 10 PM on which Dr. Ruth, as she became known, answered call-in questions from listeners. Born in Germany in 1928, Dr. Ruth, at the age of ten, was sent to a school in Switzerland which became an orphanage for most of the German Jewish students who had been sent there to escape the Holocaust. At 16 she went to Israel where she fought for that country's independence as a member of the Haganah, the Jewish freedom fighters. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1956 where she obtained her Masters Degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School of Social Research. In 1970 she received a Doctorate of Education in the Interdisciplinary Study of the Family from Columbia University Teacher's College. Currently Dr. Ruth is an Adjunct Professor at NYU, has her own private practice, and leads regular seminars for residents and interns in pediatrics on adolescent sexuality at Brookdale Hospital The National Mother's Day Committee has honored Dr. Ruth as "Mother of the Year" and she received a Liberty Medal from the City of New York. Her program, The All New Dr. Ruth Show, won an Ace Award in 1988 for excellence in cable television. What's Up Dr. Ruth was awarded the Gold Medal from the International Film and TV Festival for excellence in educational television. People Magazine included her in their list of the Most Intriguing People of the Century. Dr. Ruth has two children, two grandchildren, and resides in New York City.