Alois Pick was born in Karolinenthal (Karlin), near Prague (now in the Czech Republic), and studied medicine in Prague and Vienna, grraduating in 1883. After 1887, he served as army surgeon, and was chief physician at the military hospital. He also presided over the Military Sanitary Committee. In 1891, Dr. A. Pick became head of the ward for stomach and intestinal diseases in the Vienna General Hospital.
During World War I he was attached to the general staff, became General in the army medical corps, the highest rank attainable for military physicians. During his service in Herzegovina he was the first to describe a form of Pappataci fever and later to research the disease.
In 1918, Dr. A. Pick was appointed lecturer and professor at the University of Vienna. He wrote books and numerous articles on internal medicine, among them Vorlesungen ueber Magen und Darmkrankheiten (1895-1897), and he was co-author with Adolf Hecht of Klinische Semiotik (1908). His works were translated into English and Russian. Dr. A. Pick also wrote poetry and plays.
From 1920 to 1932, Prof. A. Pick was President of the Jewish community of Vienna. He was assisted by two vice-presidents; one from the non-nationalist and the other of the Zionist groups.