Dr. Albert Goldberg has a deeply rooted incentive for treating all patients with equal respect and dignity. “During the Depression, my mother was on welfare,” he recalls. “When she gave birth to my brother at a New York City Welfare hospital she was reprimanded by her medical caretaker for being so irresponsible. My mother always said to me, ‘I hope you never turn out to be like one of those doctors.’” Dr. Goldberg's mother would be proud of the path he took to medicine and the way he practices.

His parents were Eastern European immigrants who escaped pogroms, religious persecution, and political persecution in their homelands. They came to America empty-handed and gladly willing to toil long hours in exchange for the promise of freedom and a better life for their children. In 1932, Al was born--the fourth child in a family devoted to love, education, and caring for others.

As a young man, he long held the dream of becoming a doctor, but on the day he graduated from college he was drafted into the United States Army. He was sent to Germany with the 4^th Infantry Division and absolutely abhorred both the idea of the army and its practices. After just a few months in service, he declared himself a conscientious objector. “It was a terrible time. I was treated as a traitor,” he recalls sadly, “I was kept in confinement like a criminal.” After much debate, he was released and assigned to a medical aid clinic to give immunizations to military dependents. His honorable discharge followed shortly.

After this disillusioning experience, he enrolled in Jefferson Medical College and earned his M.S. in Microbiology. Upon graduating, he continued his studies at both the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and the University of Munich, Germany. He applied for and received a full scholarship to New York Medical College and later completed his pediatric training in San Francisco and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

In 1967, Dr. Goldberg opened a private pediatrics practice in Northern California and also became the medical director for the first Marin County Head Start Program. Over the years, as his practice expanded, he continued to find new ways to care for the world's neediest children and families. In 1983, he became a member of Interplast International and began making trips to impoverished areas of the world to provide reconstructive surgery for children with congenital deformities, or those who had suffered severe burns or other crippling injuries. “The opportunity to help these children has broadened and strengthened my commitment to medicine,” says Dr. Goldberg. “Each time I take an Interplast journey I truly feel that I am the true receiver of the miracles we give to the children.”

He is also the chief pediatrician for Rotaplast and is currently vice president in charge of prevention and education. He has personally cared for over one thousand children with cleft-lip and palate as a Rotaplast pediatrician. He has also brought children from Mexico to stay at his home in Larkspur, California, with cleft-lip and palate conditions and arranged for free surgery at Marin General Hospital.

“Dr. Goldberg is well-loved internationally for his generous medical missions,” says a parent in his local practice, “but as a mother, I am so grateful he is here most of the year!” Dr. Goldberg smiles at hearing this and adds, “I just wish my own parents could hear that. They would be so happy to know that their values live on.”