Executive Chair’s Report to Annual General Meeting, 10th July 2012
Since the last Annual General Meeting, the Association has been involved in a wide range of charitable activities in pursuit of our charitable aims:
Dr David Chinitz (Braun School of Public Health at the Hebrew University) spoke to the Association about how health care is organized and funded in Israel and compared this to the way that the NHS is structured and supported.
All medical schools are notified at the start of the academic year about the scholarship scheme, and students actively involved in the affairs of the Association are also very aware of the scheme. Thirteen elective bursaries were awarded (August 2011 – July 2012) to medical students for electives, many of which were for periods of study in Israel, but also including placements in Fiji, Vanuatu, South Africa, Australia and the USA. The tradition of presentations by medical students on their return to the UK has been continued, and Meardad Amirian, Aaron Hughes, Naomi Kaplan and Naomi Tomlinson have all done so during the year.
Medical schools are also notified by the Association about Jewish festivals in order to avoid timetable clashes, particularly with examinations.
Four Israeli medical students did electives at Newham Hospital (Barts and the London Medical School) in summer 2011, and an additional student came to the UK in April. One of the student members of the Association, Adam Levine, arranged for two Israelis to attend the European MBPhD conference at UCL. Three students will be based at Newham in summer 2012.
The medical student groups have held many social events in both London and Birmingham, and contact has been established with other campuses (Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Nottingham).
Prof Anthony Warrens delivered the Presidential Address entitled “Mind the Gap”. Prof Warrens traced the history of organ donation and told the Association about the disparity between the number of potential recipients on the transplant lists and the number of donors available. He illustrated his talk with case studies, some of which posed serious ethical issues.
The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Israeli Medical Association took place at the headquarters of the European Parliament in November. An exhibition highlighting aspects of the Association’s activities attracted considerable interest, and included the Jews and Medicine posters from Dr Simon Cohen. Prof Katz spoke on the theme of “why there is a need for Jewish doctors’ groups in Europe in 2012”.
At a London conference on Medical Halacha organized by Drs Landau and Opat three members of the Association made significant contributions. Prof Warrens spoke about ethical aspects of organ donation; Prof Hochhauser spoke about end of life issues confronted by Jewish physicians; and Prof Katz about how the Jewish community plays a role in developing public policy about health issues.
Rabbi Prof Avraham Steinberg, the Israeli authority on Jewish medical ethics and originator of the “Steinberg Law” about end of life issues, spoke at this conference; met with the heads of the Ethics Committees of the British Medical Association and the General Medical Council, together with prominent members of other faith communities that are active in this field; and addressed a meeting of the Association about
A reception was held for eleven Israeli colorectal surgeons who visited the UK for a training course. The reception was followed by a discussion about medical professionalism in the two countries led by Dr Alex Deutsch (who had again initiated and organized the visit) and Prof Irving Taylor.
The Annual Dinner took place on 16th May 2012. The guest speaker was Prof Sir Mark Pepys, Director, Wolfson Drug Discovery Unit, and Emeritus Professor of Medicine Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins, Division of Medicine, Royal Free Campus, University College London. Sir Mark outlined how his career had developed as an illustrative example of the opportunities open to physicians in the UK.
Prof Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, (and subsequently appointed as Chief Scientific Officer to the UK Government) visited Israel in May 2012. During his visit Sir Mark saw the new Medical School facility in Safed, met with the Director of the National Cancer Centre, and visited the Technion and Rapaport School of Medicine in Haifa. In Jerusalem he met with the Brookdale Institute, and then visited the Hadassah and Hebrew University campus in Ein Karem, where several researchers gave presentations. A dinner in his honour was hosted by the Hebrew University. He visited Shaarei Zedek Hospital where he was shown the facility by the Director, and later was taken round the Weizmann Institute by the President of the Institute. After visiting Ben Gurion University he met with the Israeli Medical Association to discuss questions about postgraduate medical education, and the final event was a dinner hosted by the Israeli Ministry of Health Chief Scientist, Prof Israeli, attended by the President of the Israeli Academy of Sciences, Prof Ruth Arnon.
Prof Mary Rudolf (Centre for Public Health, Medical Faculty in the Galil, Bar Ilan University) spoke to the Association about her “Dreams and hopes for the Galil”, explaining how the intention is that the medical school will address inequities in health care in an underserved community, bring economic development to a disadvantaged region and provide cutting-edge training and education for a new generation of caring young doctors.
The Association website continues to be in the capable hands of Dr Simon Woldman.
The activities of the Association would not be possible without the stalwart support and efforts of our Financial Officer, Mrs Helene Gordon, and our Administrator, Mrs Hilary Cane.
Finally several Jewish Medical Association (UK) members have continued to provide expert advice to the Board of Deputies and other Jewish organisations about professional issues. Unfortunately this has once again included countering attempts both to criticise the Association itself and to misrepresent and damage the links between British and Israeli medicine. On a more positive note, these activities have included many productive interfaith discussions and these have been pursued on many occasions during the past year.
Scholarships and Electives – August 2011 to July 2012
From the UK:
Alexander Beadel (KCL)
Dept of Cardiology, Hadassah / Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
Samuel Borin (Barts and the London)
Dept of Ophthalmology, HaEmek Hospital, Afula, Israel
Naomi Bratt (KCL)
Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Medicine, Tamale Regional Hospital and Shekhinah Clinic, Ghana
Raphael Cooper (UCL)
Medicine: Diabetes, Fiji
Daniel Daud (Newcastle)
Dept of Infectious Diseases and Medicine, Hadassah – Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Aaron Hughes (UCL)
Diabetes, Northern District Hospital, Vanuatu
Naomi Kaplan (UCL)
Orthopaedics: Stone Clinic San Francisco USA; Radiology: Singing River Group, Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA
David Kelly (Trinity College Dublin)
Nephrology and Cardiology Depts, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Emma Pack (UCL)
Anaesthetics Dept., Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sidney, Australia
Adam Sher
Medicine: HIV, Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
Samuel Smith (Trinity College Dublin)
Dept of Cardiology, Sheba Medical Centre / Tel Aviv University Medical School, Israel
Demetris Tsiakkis (Birmingham)
Dept of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Sheba Medical Centre / Tel Aviv University Medical School, Israel
Charlotte Ziff (Southampton)
Dept of Cardiovascular Surgery, Sheba Medical Centre / Tel Aviv University Medical School, Israel
From Israel to UK (Newham Hospital):
Adi Goldstein (Ben Gurion University Medical School)
Katya Mail (Tel Aviv University Medical School)
Adi Silverman (Tel Aviv University Medical School)
Ofir Vinograd (Ben Gurion University Medical School)
Barak Ritan (Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem)