Main Event – Page 2 – Jewish medical association

Addressing sexual violence and gender atrocities, committed by Hamas, Oct 7: where was the International Human Right Community?

Speaker: Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
Founding Academic Director, Rackman Centre for Advancement of Womens’ Status,
Bar Ilan University.

The Dina 7/10 Project was formed on an ad hoc basis after Oct 7, and consists of a group of senior female lawyers (from a wide variety of legal disciplines) and other experts who got together after identifying the need for assistance and advice, and for the treatment of the challenges that had arisen.

Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari is an expert on family law and international women’s rights. She is the Founding Academic Director of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University Law Faculty in Israel. She served 12 years on CEDAW, twice as Vice-Chair and as first Chair of the Working Group on Inquiries. She has published extensively in her areas of expertise, including “Women in Israel” (pub Univ. of Pennsylvania Press) and co-editor of the CEDAW Commentary (2nd edition OUP).

International awards include the US States Department Women of Courage Award and the Human Rights Award 2024 of the Ingrid zu Solms-Stiftung Foundation in Germany. In 2018 she was one of Apolitical 100 most influential people in gender policy worldwide.

She is committed to achieving justice and recognition for the victims of the sexual violence and gender-based atrocities executed by Hamas on Oct. 7. Since Oct. 8 her reputation as a leading human rights defender and her experience on CEDAW has allowed her to navigate and gain access to international human rights bodies and Israeli authorities. She has held meetings with leading decision-makers at the UN and was instrumental in arranging the fact finding mission by the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten.

In Prof Halperin-Kaddari’s presentation she discussed Conflict-Related Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (CRSGBV), focusing on the atrocities committed by Hamas during the October 7th massacre. She examined the evolution of international responses, Israeli authorities handling of an unprecedented event within its borders, the fostering of an international narrative, advocacy for an international investigation, and the pursuit of justice against the perpetrators.

Watch a recording of the event here.

War and Gender: the impact of October 7th

Thursday 14th March 2024 | 7pm

With Professor Daphna Hacker
(Professor of Law, Tel Aviv University; Independent Expert Member of CEDAW)

Prof Hacker is a legal scholar and a sociologist in the Law Faculty and Women and Gender Studies Programme, Tel Aviv University. She is an Israeli feminist and is currently an independent expert member of the International Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

In her talk Prof Hacker discussed the atrocious attack of Hamas on Israel through the gender lens, including gender violence, female hostages, men and women as combat soldiers and as medical assistance providers and recipients, and mothers at the home front. It will also discuss the lack of women around the decision making table, and women’s leadership through civil society in an attempt to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and bring security and prosperity to the region.

Watch a recording of the event here.

Addressing Antisemitism in British Medicine in 2024

An update report on Jewish Medical Association UK Activities | Tuesday 27th February 2024 | 8pm

Speakers: Charlotte Benjamin (London President), David Katz (Executive Chair) and Fiona Sim (Professional Regulation Officer)

Echoes and Reflections: Why Learn About Medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust? | Shani Levany

Wednesday 24th January | 19:00 GMT

Shani Levany is the granddaughter of Lia Huber, a survivor of the twins experiments in Auschwitz. She finished medical school this past summer and will soon be starting an internship. She is the TA for the course “Medicine’s reflection in the Holocaust” at the Goldman Medical School, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er-Sheva, Israel; and is the head of the Student Advisory Council to the Lancet Commission on Medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust.

Watch a recording of the event here.

October 7th and its aftermath | Dr Karina Kviat

Dr Kviat will be speaking together with Prof Alex Zlotnik, Prof of Anaethesiology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and Chair, Dept of Anaesthesiology, Soroka Medical Centre, Beersheva on Anaesthesia and Trauma Care at the front line in Soroka Medical Centre.

In addition, Prof Yehuda Ginosar (Director, Mother and Child Anaesthesia Unit, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre), will give an update on the ongoing situation in Israel.

Watch a recording of the event here.

Horrors of October 7th and Our Response | Dr Shlomo Gensler

Dr Shlomo Gensler, Emergency Pre-hospital and Flight Physician for United Hatzalah; Anaesthesia Resident, Dept of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Hadassah Ein Karem University Hospital

Tuesday 26th December | 19:00 GMT

Dr Gensler will give a first-hand account of how events unfolded on 7th October and explain the emergency pre-hospital medical response during that fateful day. This will be followed by an account of experiences treating the wounded in the Hadassah University Hospital Intensive Care Unit.

Watch a recording of the event here.

Challenges and responses of the Israeli healthcare system during the first four days of the attack from Hamas

Israel at War – Special online medical webinar Tuesday 24^th October 2023 | 8:00pm UK time Speaker: Dr. Ruth Waitzberg Myers – JDC – Brookdale Institute, Jerusalem, Israel. Watch a recording of the event here.

Dr. Ruth Waitzberg is a research scholar at the health policy unit at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, where she started working in 2010. From 2020, she is also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Healthcare Management at the Berlin University of Technology, and at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. She is on the Board of two journals: Health Policy Open and Israel Journal of Health Policy Research.

Ruth has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology and political science and a master’s degree in public policy, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; a PhD in health systems management; and a Dr. P.H. done jointly between Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and the Berlin University of Technology in Germany.

Her primary research areas are financing health systems, payments to health providers and financial incentives, health insurance, policy evaluation, health and long-term care systems, and international comparisons.

Update from Israel: One Doctors Perspective

Israel at War: Special Online Medical Webinar | Monday 16 October | 7pm BST

Speaker: Prof Mark Clarfield MD FRCPC

Emeritus Professor, Ben-Gurion University; Chair, Israel National Council on Geriatrics

Prof Clarfield will be giving an update from Israel with his perspective as a doctor.

Watch a recording of the event here.

Forgotten Civil Wars – An Ethiopian Story | Profs Clarfield and Paltie

Profs Clarfield and Paltiel, from Ben Gurion University and Hebrew University / Hadassah respectively, need no introduction to the Association.

In addition to their work in Israel itself they have been engaged with healthcare in Ethiopia for several years, where there has been a civil war for many years.

For this special event that are joined by their colleague from Ayder Hospital, Berhane Yohannes Hailu.

Very recently there has been a ceasefire, but the healthcare systems remain in a critical condition.

Further details were published at the end of January: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2800965

To hear more about the remarkable – and sad – experiences of those who have been engaged with this forgotten civil war, please register here.

NHS funded BRCA testing will be made available to all Jewish adults in England | Professor Ranjit Manchanda

Professor Ranjit Manchanda (Professor of Gynaecological Oncology and Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist; Co-Lead, Cancer Prevention Unit, QMUL)

A programme to pilot population based BRCA testing in the Jewish population is being developed by The Early Diagnosis Team (EDT) within the National Cancer Programme at NHS England. Through this new programme, NHS funded BRCA testing will be made available to all Jewish adults in England – distinguishing it from the current NHS service where only those who meet family-history based criteria are eligible.

The pilot will involve two main elements:

clinical delivery – creating the testing pathways (being developed in consultation with a broad -based Expert Advisory Group) required to deliver BRCA testing to the Jewish population with appropriate NHS laboratory, genetic counselling support and oversight.
an engagement campaign – raising awareness of, and supporting BRCA testing uptake by, the Jewish population.

Delivery of BRCA testing via the pilot is provisionally scheduled to begin in early 2023. The pilot offers a significant opportunity to address a major gap in BRCA testing provision for the ‘at-increased-risk’ Jewish people in the UK. This can identify more people at high risk of cancer who can benefit from early diagnosis and cancer prevention.

The aim of this webinar is to provide an opportunity to learn more about the programme and how we can support/engage with it. The webinar presentation can be accessed here.