Abraham Havivi is a native New Yorker who has lived in Los Angeles for the last three decades. The child of Hebrew teachers, Avi was educated at two Modern Orthodox day schools, Yeshiva of Central Queens and Hillel High School. He received his BA with honors from Brown University with a major in Religious Studies, rabbinical ordination from Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative), premedical training at Columbia University, and graduated from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. Avi then relocated to the West Coast, completing his residency in General Psychiatry and fellowship in Child Psychiatry at UCLA. He practices Adult and Child Psychiatry full-time. Avi is a Distinguished Lecturer at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies (Conservative) at American Jewish University, where he teaches Pastoral Counseling and Bible, and he has received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from JTS.