Bar-Ilan University Building the North
As we all watch Israel defend itself from rockets fired from Lebanon, we continue to wonder about the future of the northern part of the country “the day after”. Roughly 60,000 Israelis remain displaced from their homes after the October 7 attack, and their lives are likely to remain in limbo for the foreseeable future as the Israeli Defense Forces work tirelessly to push back attacks from Hezbollah. However, even before October 7th, “The North” struggled to keep up with the thriving “Central District” of the country. The imbalance has not disappeared in light of these new challenges — it has only been exacerbated. Families in the North deserve to return home to communities that support them and nurture their growth.
For example, the average life expectancy of a person living in the Galilee is almost three years shorter than the same person living in Tel Aviv, or anywhere in the Central District. One of the main reasons for this gap is the shortage of doctors in the North, roughly two per one thousand people versus five in the Central District. What is even more alarming is that the number of doctors in the North is heading in the wrong direction. A full 85% of the doctors currently in the North graduated from medical schools outside of Israel, and many of the schools they graduated from will no longer meet Israel’s requirements as of 2026. That is to say, Israel is raising its bar with regard to the medical schools whose graduates are permitted to practice in the country, and doing so is going to lower the already low number of doctors who decide to practice in the North.
Once the attacks subside and 60,000 Israelis return home, the real work begins. We must ensure that they have a future, and quality health care needs to be part of that equation. I recently spoke with Prof. Orly Avni, the newly-appointed Dean of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University, who shared with me how Bar-Ilan’s medical school in Safed continues daily its work to serve the North, despite Hezbollah attacks.
For example, we have created SPHERE (Social and Precision-Medicine Health Equity Research Endeavor), a program that looks at targeted public health issues and currently partners with 23 municipalities to combat debilitating diseases like type 2 diabetes in the Galilee. Cases of diabetes in the North are three times higher than the national average. While municipalities received guidelines from Home Front Command after October 7, Bar-Ilan was able to use the infrastructure built by SPHERE to help municipalities better serve their residents with complex health needs by providing them with information regarding equipment and medicine availability for a broad range of medical needs. In the future, we hope to build on this infrastructure to tackle other medical epidemics that affect communities in the North to create a more equitable health system for all.
Moreover, October 7 prompted the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine to establish an emergency-preparedness training program for every student cohort. The medical school will soon open a fully equipped Simulation Center, in order that its graduates become qualified to offer aid before rescue teams arrive for a future emergency.
Alongside its work in addressing the needs of the present moment, The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine offers a powerful vision for the future, aiming to transform the Galilee into a medical superpower and to establish a medical ecosystem in the Galilee focused on three areas:
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Innovative and unique medical education to create outstanding physicians and pharmacologists for the Galilee to address the Galilee’s biggest healthcare challenges
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Groundbreaking biomedical research to build a robust scientific community in the Galilee that advances innovation and improves lives
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Establishing a regional engine to fuel the economy, expand the workforce, and enhance quality of life
With a vision of providing quality health care in the North, Bar-Ilan has been highly effective at recruiting students and has educated 540 medical students thus far. Currently, about 10% of graduating students remain in the North to provide better health care to its citizens.
Bar-Ilan aims to retain even more graduates and attract other scientists and researchers to the area by building and sustaining a vibrant scientific community and academic ecosystem. We call it the “Academic Village,” and it will become the medical hub of the North.
Today, it is hard to imagine a grand vision for the future in the North of Israel, especially for Israelis who have not seen their homes for a year. However, one thing American Jews can do for Israel and its people is help create a better medical infrastructure and quality of life for those living in these communities. We need to be thinking about supporting Israel’s core institutions like Bar-Ilan University and its Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the North. The students and faculty have never stopped dreaming, not for one day over this past year. We should dream with them and do our part to help bring these dreams into reality.