In the months following October 7, there were increasingly alarming stories from Jewish doctors, nurses, and medical students across the United States. Some described being doxxed, others said they feared speaking up in class or at work, and many felt there was no organization dedicated to representing them within the healthcare system. And so the American Jewish Medical Association (AJMA) was founded.
The Jerusalem Post spoke to Eveline Shekhman, AJMA CEO, on Tuesday. Shekhman recently testified before the US House Committee on Education and Workforce that "antisemitism in medicine is, at its core, a patient care crisis" and that patient care is now being affected because of rising Jew hatred.
According to AJMA's research, there are approximately 250,000 Jewish healthcare professionals in the US, including physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, pharmacists, allied health workers, administrators, researchers, and faculty. Jewish Americans represent roughly 14% of all US physicians.
Shekhman told the Post that she founded AJMA in the aftermath of October 7, when she started seeing increasing signs of antisemitism in health care, and realized that there was no organization dedicated to representing Jewish Americans in the healthcare system.
Since being founded, AJMA has gained new members very quickly, and now works with around 3000 Jewish medical professionals across the country, and 400 medical students.
Working to keep the environment 'patient-first'
"We're the only ones that eat, sleep, breathe health care. We know health care because our members are all health care providers across all levels, across all specialties," Shekhman explained.
"Right now we're just focusing on patient care environment, making sure that it stays patient first, that there's no discrimination, that it is safe, that geopolitics doesn't enter that space, that there are no distractions."
Shekhman explained that as soon as some sort of distraction enters a medical environment, "it disrupts the whole setting."
"So if a surgical tech is wearing a surgical cap that's either a keffiyeh or a Palestinian flag, that's a distraction and that's a disruption and that's a patient care situation."
Shekhman explained that the minute associations or institutions start trying to implement BDS or they have awards for anti-Israel behavior or they have [problematic] lectures, it affects patients on the ground.
This is where AJMA steps in and examines the rules and the bylaws within a hospital and dress code policies and the legal ramifications.
"There is also case law within the US to say that if there are political symbols or if there are actions, not including religious ones, being shown by health care providers within a patient care setting that are disturbing to the patients, then they can be asked to have that removed and they can be reprimanded because that should not be allowed."
"There's a power play in place. Anyone who comes in as a patient is vulnerable. They don't understand the medicine. There could be a health risk. There's a safety risk. You have this trust in your physician and the health care team and now it's being played upon."
Jewish physicians speak out about antisemitism
Many of the Jewish physicians AJMA has spoken to have been doxed and threatened, so AJMA is now negotiating to have a system or technology where personal information can be taken off the Internet.
Connected to this are attempts to intentionally damage a Jewish doctor's reputation.
Shekhman recounted the story of a Jewish physician and his wife who went to speak up at a town hall meeting against a BDS resolution. The next day, all of a sudden, he had a slew of negative patient reviews from people who weren't his patients.
"And that's the lifeblood of a physician," she added.
The AJMA also focuses a lot on medical students, who speak of being excluded from societies or sitting through lectures where the professor is talking about the war in Gaza and a "supposed genocide."
"It's difficult for them to speak out because of the power play that's in place. And they don't want to lose rotation. They don't want to get a bad grade."
"What we do is when we hear that something's going on, we connect them with the local chapters, and we try to make sure that there is an attending physician who is mid-career to provide the support."
Antisemitism to the side, an important factor of AJMA's work is also celebrating and creating community. They help medical students find Hanukkah celebrations or seders or a place to go for Shabbat.
Shekhman remains positive: "Have faith. We can create change. I truly think that as a community, if everyone does one little thing collectively, we can build the foundation to change the future."