Michael Gelfand, CBE, (December 1912 – July 1985) was a Zimbabwean medical practitioner of tropical medicine, who received a Papal Order of the Knighthood of St.

[1] Gelfand was born 26 December, 1912 in Wynberg, Cape Province, Union of South Africa to immigrant Jewish-Lithuanian parents.

[3] Gefland first practiced medicine in South Africa and the United Kingdom before joining the Southern Rhodesia Medical Service as physician, pathologist and radiologist in 1939.

[citation needed] In 1955, Gelfand founded the Central African Journal of Medicine[4] with Joseph Ritchken, and remained its co-editor for many years.

[6] Gelfand wrote a total of 330 articles and monographs in various journals on topics ranging from medicine, ethics, philosophy, history, Shona custom, religion, and culture, with titles including "Migration of African Labourers in Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1890 - 1914)".