15 Facts About Hilde Bruch

Hilde Bruch was a German-born American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known foremost for her work on eating disorders and obesity.

Hilde Bruch worked and studied at various medical facilities in New York City and Baltimore before becoming a professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1964.

Hilde Bruch was born in the small German town of Dulken, on the Lower Rhine near the Dutch border, She was the third of seven children, with four brothers and two sisters.

At an early age, Bruch wanted to become a mathematician.

Hilde Bruch studied at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg im Breisgau, where she graduated as a doctor in medicine in 1929.

Hilde Bruch accepted academic posts at the University of Kiel, and subsequently at the University of Leipzig, where she undertook research and studies for two years.

Hilde Bruch was persuaded to flee to England in June 1933.

Hilde Bruch stayed in London for a year, working at the East End Maternity Hospital, which served the Jewish immigrant community in London's impoverished East End.

In September 1934 Hilde Bruch emigrated to the United States and settled in New York City, where she worked at the Babies' Hospital.

Hilde Bruch obtained her pediatric licence in 1935 and became an American citizen in 1940.

From 1941 to 1943, Hilde Bruch studied psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland.

Hilde Bruch underwent psychoanalytic training, studying under a number of notable psychiatrists, including Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, Harry Stack Sullivan, Theodore Lidz and Lawrence S Kubie.

In 1943 Hilde Bruch returned to New York, opened a private psychoanalytic practice and taught at Columbia University, where she became affiliated with the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Hilde Bruch was appointed clinical associate professor in 1954 and professor in 1959.

In 1964, Hilde Bruch accepted a position as Professor of Psychiatry at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.