Dave and Lani met at a Break Fast at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 1996. Both were raised in proudly Jewish and ardently Zionist families: Lani in the large and active Toronto Jewish community, Dave as the youngest son of the only Jewish family in Pinawa, Manitoba. At their second meeting, they shared their experiences on March of Living (1990 and 1992) and agreed they would send their children to Jewish day school. Innocent, young, Canadian medical students that they were, they had no idea they would one day live in New York City and that their daughter Sloane would attend Heschel for Pre-K. They were attracted to Heschel’s pluralistic approach to Jewish education and practice, the apples and honey artwork on the walls, and the general heimishe feeling in the old 89th Street building. The Hogwarts-like mysterious double staircase was the icing on the Heschel cake. Their younger daughter, Tanys, started at Heschel in Kindergarten the year that Early Childhood moved to 30 West End Avenue. Heschel very quickly became more than just a school – the Serota-Maymans consider the community their NYC family.

Both alumni of the University of Western Ontario and Queen’s University Medical school, David studied orthopedic surgery and Lani family medicine/primary care. David then completed fellowships in Sports Medicine at Harvard University/MGH and Arthroplasty at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where is he now an attending Orthopedic Surgeon; Chief of the Surgical Arthritis Service; Allan Inglis Chair in Surgical Arthritis; and Pavilion 6 Fantasy Football League Champion 2019 and 2022. He is a member of the Hip and Knee Societies, industry consultant for instrument design and emerging health technologies, and active in research and education. In March 2020, David was named Chief Medical Officer of NYPH at HSS, as the orthopedic hospital pivoted to meet the needs of the city’s over-flowing general hospitals though the worst of the Pandemic’s first wave. Lani completed fellowships in Women’s Health at Queen’s University and Osteoporosis/Metabolic Bone Disease at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Now on staff in the Department of Metabolic Bone Disease at HSS, her duties outside of her clinical practice include teaching physicians-to-be at every level of training, physician mentorship, research, and community outreach and education. Dave and Lani share an office and snack drawer at HSS.

Lani has enjoyed volunteering in numerous roles at Heschel: Class Parent, Heschelwear, PA Secretary, Hesed Committee, Benefit Committee, Purim Pandemomium food vendor, Holocaust Commemoration Committee, Israel trip airport bus chaperone, Middle School Moving Up Ceremony party planning committee, High School Buddy Co-coordinator, guest lecturer at High School clubs, or anywhere a warm body is need or wanted. She also played “Dina” in the Aryot play to some acclaim. She was sworn in as an American citizen by Judge Jesse Furman during a 4th grade field trip. Since March 2020, along with his intrepid medical partner Dr. Lori Zbar, David has served on Heschel’s COVID Advisory Committee. This is David’s first year on the Board of Trustees. Their daughters will one day graduate from Heschel, but to Dave and Lani, Heschel is like The Hotel California, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Lori grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in the DC area and attended Jewish day school from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Her parents were founding members of a Havurah and biweekly Jewish study group that have each continued to meet for nearly 50 years. Lori developed a deep commitment to Jewish practice, learning, and values, ideals she hoped to transmit one day to future generations. Brett grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, in a loving family that strongly identified as Jewish and was largely non-practicing. After several years of learning with a tutor at home, Brett celebrated his bar mitzvah in Israel, during a meaningful trip that included his grandfather who had immigrated to the US from Bialystok, Poland. Lori and Brett met as undergraduates at Yale, where only one of them dined frequently at the Kosher Kitchen.

When looking at schools for their children, Lori and Brett sought an educational home that combined an outstanding learning environment with a grounding in Jewish values. Most importantly, they sought a school that would partner with them to raise thoughtful, inquisitive individuals. What they found at Heschel was a second home, with a community that embraces the values of pluralism, responsibility, and the joys of finding wonder and gratitude in the everyday. Their daughter Sabrina graduated in 2021 and is currently finishing a gap year in Jerusalem. Their son Ezra is a sophomore at Heschel.

Lori is a pediatrician on faculty at Mount Sinai where she has served as the Director of Student Health for the Icahn School of Medicine. She also serves as faculty at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health and a voluntary clinician/educator at Moi Teaching and Referring Hospital in western Kenya. She was appointed to the Mount Sinai COVID Response Team during the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020, where she developed and implemented infection prevention policies. She loves caring for and mentoring medical students both in New York and Kenya, and providing comprehensive care for all of her patients. Brett trained as a physician and leads the life sciences practice at General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm that invests in innovative companies and leading entrepreneurs. In his role as a life science investor for nearly 20 years, Brett has supported and served on the boards of companies that have advanced new technologies and therapies for the treatment of cancer, rare diseases, and other areas of significant unmet medical need.

Brett has enjoyed many Heschel parent-child camping trips, and he recently calculated that he has spent a total of one entire month camping with the Heschel community. He first became involved as a volunteer through the Fall Campaign in 2010. Lori first became involved at Heschel through the Parenting Institute, which she co-chaired from 2012-2014. She also played “Gila” in the Aryot play to some acclaim. In March of 2020, she joined Heschel’s COVID Advisory Committee, and began serving on the Board of Trustees soon thereafter. She has been awed by the dedication of the indefatigable leadership of the Heschel School, as well as her incomparable co-medical advisor Dr. David Mayman. Lori and Brett are excited for this year’s Benefit and cannot wait to celebrate together IN PERSON!