Israel needs US-trained physicians. If this does not happen rapidly and in sufficient numbers, the quality of medicine in Israel will suffer.

The average Israeli physician is smarter and more mature than their US counterpart. It is considerably more difficult to be accepted to an Israeli medical school than in the US. Israeli trained doctors have been ultra-selected from their highly competitive peers.

Many Israeli doctors are older, with more life experience due to years of military service or pre-medicine pursuits. When I became a father during medical school in the US, I was an extreme anomaly. Not so with Israeli medical students.

While Israeli doctors are smarter and more mature, the average US trainee is a better physician. Why?

First, doctors in Israel are mostly not Israeli-trained doctors. Astonishingly, 60-65% of new doctors in Israel did not attend medical school in Israel. Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli physicians each comprise 50% of new doctors in Israel, and many if not most study in medical schools outside of Israel. Statistically, your physician in Israel is not the super smart, mature individual who gets accepted to an Israeli medical school.

Second, U.S.-trained physicians have a major inherent advantage. The language of medicine and medical literature is English. Medical information progresses at a dizzying pace, and any excellent physician has to be continuously reading. And reading critically to distinguish medically relevant information from the chaff.  I am........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)