Veksler (Weksler) Khatskel (Hatzkel) (b. 1922, Daugavpils, Latvia) — professor, clinical scientist.

On the eve of the Second World War, Khatskel Veksler graduated from the Daugavpils Hebrew Gymnasium. He escaped Latvia on foot and found himself evacuated to Katta-Kurgan (Uzbekistan). From 1942 to 1943, he served in the Red Army.

After the war, he returned to Riga and enrolled at the Riga Medical Institute (RMI), graduating in 1951. Due to his Zionist past as a former activist of HaShomer HaTzair, Veksler was forced to “go into hiding” in Jelgava to evade persecution by the GPU. He headed the infectious disease department at the Jelgava City Hospital and also worked at a laboratory in a psychiatric hospital (location unspecified).

From 1960, he was employed at the Hepatology Centre of RMI under the leadership of Prof. A. F. Bluger (see article: Bluger A.). In 1961, he defended his thesis on “Protective and Pathological Autoimmune Processes,” and in 1970 his doctoral dissertation titled “Autosensitisation in Intestinal Infections and Their Consequences.”

In 1969, the Immunology Department was established on the basis of the Hepatology Centre, with Veksler as its founding and continuous head until 1990. He established a school of clinical immunology that investigated autoimmune processes and developed methods of immunotherapy for hepatitis, periodontitis, psoriasis, and ulcerative colitis, using various immunoregulators such as Leucomadin, Rigin, interferon, interleukin, and zymosan.

To enable diagnosis, prognosis, and testing of immunoregulators, new clinical methods for studying the body’s immune response were introduced, protected by USSR copyright certificates. A key focus was placed on killer cells (T-lymphocytes and macrophages), which regulate the body's defensive responses in human blood and tissue.

Khatskel Veksler was also deeply committed to teaching, supervising over 25 candidates and 10 doctors of medical sciences. The Hepatology Centre gained all-Union recognition and served as a training site for clinicians from scientific centres across the USSR.

In 1978, the USSR Higher Attestation Commission awarded him the title of Professor in Immunology. He is the author of over 100 publications and co-author of 45 inventions. He was named an Honoured Inventor of the USSR.

From 1991 to 1992, he headed a research grant on HIV infection. Between 1991 and 1993, he served as President of the charitable society Linas Hatzedek. Since 1993, he has resided in Israel, focusing on the philosophical dimensions of the Torah.*

Selected publications:

Блюгер А.Ф., Векслер Х.М., Яворковская Е.К. Австралийский антиген. – М., 1973,157 с.;

Блюгер А.Ф., Векслер Х.М., Крупникова Э.З. и др. Гепатит БМЭ, 3-е изд., т. 5, с.280–285, 1977; Векслер Х.М. Иммунопатология желудочно-кишечного тракта и печени Иммунология болезней внутренних органов. – Киев, 1985, с.285-302;

Аншелевич Ю.В., Блюгер А.Ф., Векслер Х.М.и др. Основы гепатологии. – Рига: Звайгзне, 1976, 470 с.;

Блюгер А.Ф., Векслер Х.М., Новицкий И.Н. Клиническая иммунопатология кишечных инфекций. – Рига, Звайгзне, 1980, 214 с.;

Bluger A., Wechsler H., Timoschenko G., Treija I. Growth phenomena in tissue culture of adult human livers in different disease states Acta Hepato-Gastroenterologica, 1973, №.5, p.387–392; Bluger А., Veksler H.Assessment of antigen expression on lymphocytes for chronization of VH-B 6th Intern. Congr. of Immunology, Toronto,1986, p,607–608.

Osna N., Duk A., Veksler H.et al. Interferon Soc. Meeting, Nice,1992, p. 216-217;

Veksler H.M., Skopets B.G., Skopets A.G. Effect of biologic active substances controlling cows' reproductivity by T-lymphocytes and macrophages activity Zuchthygiene, B.46, 1994, S. 211–222, Sourse: Блюгер A.Ф. Время: за и против. – Рига, 2006, с.100-1.