Michael Zucker M.D. ’67

Michael Zucker M.D. ’67, was selected to receive the Medical Alumni Association’s 2007 Professional Achievement Award. The award recognizes an individual who has brought distinction to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA through exemplary achievements as a physician or through service to the broader community.

After earning his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, Zucker completed both his medical degree and his internal medicine residency at UCLA and the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center. He did his radiology residency at UCLA and UC Irvine.

Zucker was a major in the Medical Corps, United States Air Force, during the Vietnam War. In the war, he was stationed at a top-security missile base. From 1975 to 1990, he was in private practice, and became professor of radiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 1990.

At UCLA, Zucker was chief of emergency radiology for 16 years. He is past president of the American Society of Emergency Radiology.

Zucker has received many honors for his teaching, including the Award for Excellence in Education, Alpha Omega Alpha (medical honor society) Faculty Person of the Year, and three Golden Apple Awards. He earned several accolades from the UCLA Department of Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Arthur Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center and the radiology department.

Currently professor emeritus of clinical radiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Zucker is developing and teaching the integrated radiology curriculum for anatomy and for pathology and teaches the senior radiology elective.

A fan of famous movie quotes, Zucker is known for frequently dropping the quotes into his lectures and speeches. He is an avid reader with particular interests in science fiction, history -- especially ancient Roman history — and novels about the British Navy. He walks to work – rain or shine – travels with his wife, and keeps company with a very large dog. However, he says his most satisfying activity is teaching medical students.