The World Fellowship of the Israeli Medical Association was established in 1912 at the first meeting of the Hebrew Medical Association of Jaffa. Following a proposal by Dr. Sherman, initiator and founder of the World Fellowship, two types of membership were created: one for members residing in Israel (“active members”) and another for members living abroad (“correspondent members”). In creating the World Fellowship, Dr. Sherman sought to unify Jewish physicians in the Diaspora around the IMA nucleus.

During the Second World Congress of Jewish physicians in 1952, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, together with Dr. Sherman, announced that the time had come for all Jewish physicians in the Diaspora to take an active role in the rebirth of the country, not merely with individual contributions, but as an organized group. The idea to unite the Jewish physicians around the IMA and Israel motivated thousands of overseas members to join.

The objectives of the IMA-WF are to create and enhance mutual bonds between Israeli health professionals (including physicians, residents, fellows, medical students and allied health professionals) and their counterparts in other countries and to give individual members and chapters an opportunity to identify with and express solidarity with Israel, the IMA and the progress of medicine in Israel.

“The Israeli Medical Association World Fellowship is an international federation of organizations of health professional, scientists and students, dedicated to promoting academic, clinical, professional and social links amongst its members, for enhancing solidarity with Israel and its medical societies reflecting shared values.”

Statement accepted by WF Executive Committee, April 2009, Israel