Loren Galler Rabinowitz

Loren Galler Rabinowitz was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1986. Three weeks later, she traveled with her parents to Barbados, where her mother, a professor of medicine at Harvard, has run a center for malnourished children since the early 1970s. Growing up in Boston and Barbados, Rabinowitz has always known that she would commit her life to serving others.

Though she took her first steps on the ice at the age of two, Rabinowitz's athletic career began in earnest at age nine, when she was discovered by Olympic and world ice dancing coach Natalia Dubova. After teaming up with David Mitchell in 1999, the pair would go on to win ten international and four national medals over their eight-year career. Loren and David were members of the United States Figure Skating National and World Teams from 1999 to 2006, and were the 2004 United States Ice Dancing Bronze Medalists, 2003 Junior World Ice Dancing Pewter Medalist, 2002 United States Ice Dancing Junior Champions, and 2000 United States Ice Dancing Novice Champions. The team represented the United States at International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix and Grand Prix events, in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Norway, Germany, China, Japan, and Russia.

Even more importantly, Loren and David maintained their studies full-time, even while competing at the most elite level. In 2004, Loren was named to the United States Figure Skating Scholastic Honors Team. Loren also made time to pursue her passion for public service. Loren and David donated their time and performances to many charitable organizations, including the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the Jimmy Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research, the Special Olympics, Susan G. Komen Fund for Breast Cancer, the Salvation Army, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

In 2006, after being accepted to Harvard and Yale, Loren Galler Rabinowitz decided to hang up her skates and focus solely on her education. Over the next four years, she would major in English while simultaneously fulfilling the science coursework required for entrance to medical school. In her senior year, Loren completed a thesis in creative poetry under Pulitzer Prize Winner Jorie Graham. In her book, The Invisible Encyclopedia of Dance, Loren wrote about her figure skating career, as well as the hours she spent volunteering with the pastor at a local hospital. Upon graduation, Loren was named the winner of Harvard's Le Baron Briggs Prize "for her work as a humanitarian and poet," and the David McCord Prize "for depth of talent in the literary arts, and in particular, for her combination of the fields of medicine and poetry." She was also selected as one of five "outstanding seniors of the class of 2010" by the Harvard Gazette, the official publication of Harvard University.

Just three weeks after graduating from Harvard University, in June of 2010, Loren was crowned Miss Massachusetts, winning the talent portion of the competition with her classical piano performance. Though her participation in the pageant was initially motivated by the scholarship opportunities afforded by the Miss America Organization, the title of Miss Massachusetts quickly became a platform for Loren to serve as a role model to young men and women in the state of Massachusetts and beyond. At nearly one hundred major events during her reign, Loren shared her personal story, and spoke about her journey toward a career in medicine and the importance of striving for excellence. She visited schools, nursing homes, military bases, pediatric hospitals, and inner-city afterschool programs. She received an award for exemplary civilian service from the United States Army, and was named Scholar/Athlete of the year by the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. At the 2011 Miss America Pageant, Loren was honored to receive the Miracle Maker Award, after raising more money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (the national platform of the Miss America Organization) than any other contestant in the history of the partnership between CMNH and Miss America.

As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors and the only Jewish contestant at the 2011 Miss America pageant, Loren is committed to Holocaust education and telling her grandparents' incredible story of survival. Loren's grandparents taught nearly 600,000 children about their experiences in the Holocaust. It is Loren's mission to ensure that her generation takes up the burden of telling those stories so that the lessons of the Holocaust are not forgotten. Loren Galler Rabinowitz gave the closing remarks at the annual fundraising dinner of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, held in Boston last May. She also spoke at the 15th Commemoration of the New England Holocaust Memorial on Yom HaShoah.

Loren Galler Rabinowitz is currently studying medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City. In her spare time, she is pursuing her public speaking career and continuing her humanitarian efforts on behalf of local, national, and nonprofit organizations.