Aug 22, 2018

Federation Encourages Medical Students to Pursue Education in the Negev

Federation continues to strengthen Israel’s Negev region by encouraging medical students to pursue educational opportunities in the area. Through the Choosing Tomorrow Medical Student Initiative, established by our overseas partner, The Jewish Agency for Israel, exemplary students in their fourth through sixth years of medical school receive educational scholarships and social entrepreneurship training each year. Designed to address the shortage of qualified medical personnel in Israel’s northern and southern peripheries, the students are expected to devote a set amount of hours to the local medical community. Combining elements of vocational advancement, alongside social and communal components, the innovative program recruits some of Israel's most promising future doctors and harnesses their energies toward transforming the physical health and wellbeing of the regional residents.

When the program began in the Negev six years ago, the local hospital in Be’er Sheva was ranked 17th in the country among medical students and was suffering from a severe shortage of qualified personnel. Originally established to help address the crippling heathcare crisis in Southern Israel, the program now serves as a successful and professional model for achieving sustainable change. Today, that same hospital is ranked 4th and has more intern applicants than available positions.

To learn more about Federation’s work in the Negev, including our Miami-Yerucham Partnership, click here.