A recently published study on antisemitism is especially timely in light of an ongoing trial of two Australian nurses who said they would kill Israeli patients, reports that Jews have complained that medical staff found sneaky ways to torture them, and instances in which doctors and nurses have posted antisemitic posts on social media.

The study titled “Anatomy of Antisemitism in Health Professions Education and Practice: A Narrative Review” and published in the Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal by Hedy S. Wald, Ph.D., of Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and Dr. Steven Roth of the University of Illinois College of Medicine shows that only 2 percent of medical institutions incorporate antisemitism training into their anti-discrimination and anti-bias training. There are 12 times more mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and 63 times more mentions of racism than of antisemitism in PubMed, the National Library of Medicine’s primary database for peer-reviewed medical research.

The study also makes recommendations for instituting training for antisemitism awareness across all healthcare institutions to ensure that unbiased care is administered to everyone.

“Antisemitism in health care has become a problem that can no longer be ignored,” said Wald and Roth. “We conducted this research to ensure that health care leaders and policymakers recognize the scale and scope of this problem and take necessary steps to address it. Understanding the breadth and depth of the issue is the first step; action must follow.”

The CEO of the American Jewish Medical Association (AJMA), Eveline Shekhman, weighed in.

“Wald’s and Roth’s new research is an addition to the body of evidence that AJMA and others have been presenting to policymakers, health care leaders and the public, and its publication in a peer-reviewed journal gives that evidence considerable weight,” she said. “AJMA will use this research as a tool to push for accountability until medical institutions treat antisemitism with the same seriousness as every other form of discrimination.”