Ava F. Kahn holds a Ph.D. in history from UCSB. Upon graduation she accepted an appointment as Research Associate at the Western Jewish History Center of the Magnes Museum. Since leaving the Magnes, Kahn served as a visiting scholar at the California Studies Center, University of California, Berkeley. Her publications include: Jews of the Pacific Coast: Reinventing Community on America’s Edge (2010) co-authored; California Jews (2003, paperback 2011) co-edited; Jewish Life in the American West: Immigration, Settlement and Community (2002); Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: A Documentary History, 1849-1880 (2002). This year Kahn received Prinz Memorial Fellowship from the American Jewish Archives for her research on American Jewish military doctors and their families during WWI.