Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied medicine at the University of Witwatersrand and graduated with distinction in surgery. He spent a year in St. Louis, Missouri, as an American Field Service Scholar and subsequently returned there for elective work in internal medicine at Washington University.

Dr. Tatz served as medical officer in the South African Defence force and completed a tour of duty on the Namibian border during the conflict there. He subsequently moved to Israel where he practised both in hospital and general medicine in Jerusalem, as well as engaging in Yeshiva study.

After practising medicine and studying in Yeshiva concurrently for some time, Dr. Tatz undertook a number of years of Talmudic study and later teaching in Jewish thought and medical ethics in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Dr. Tatz founded the Jerusalem Medical Ethics Forum, of which he is Director, for the purpose of teaching and promoting knowledge of Jewish medical ethics internationally.