BGU | PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2025

7

PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2025

A MEDICAL SCHOOL OPENS IN THE DESERT In March 1973, Israel’s Council for Higher Education approved the establishment of the country’s fourth medical school at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. This initiative was spearheaded by Clalit Health Services, which operates Beer-Sheva’s primary hospital, in collaboration with the leadership of the fledgling university (founded in 1969) and Beer-Sheva's mayor, David Tuviyahu. Prof. Haim Doron, Director-General of Clalit Health Services, and Prof. Moshe Prywes, BGU President and former Vice Dean of the Hebrew University medical school, worked tirelessly to bring the vision to life. Doron and Prywes, who stepped down as president to become the school’s first dean, were joined by distinguished professionals: Prof. Asher Segal, a leader in medical education; Prof. Dan Benor, a family physician who introduced an innovative curriculum with early clinical exposure; Prof. Aaron Antonovsky, a world-renowned medical sociologist who championed a holistic patient-centered approach; and Prof. Shraga Segal, who shaped the basic sciences curriculum at the University Center for Health Sciences and Services. Together, they redefined medical education, pioneering personal interviews as part of the candidate selection process – a practice now standard worldwide – while emphasizing early clinical exposure and the bio-psycho social model of patient care. This community-focused philosophy, known as the "Beer-Sheva Spirit," alongside

candidate interviews, became a defining characteristic not only of the medical school but of all clinical programs at BGU. The medical school welcomed its first class of 34 students in 1974. Just a few years later, in 1978, the Leon and Mathilde Recanati School for Community

The "Teddy Bear Clinic" run by Asran, the FOHS student union, c. 2010

Medical students on clinical rounds at Soroka University Medical Center, 2017

Historical photo from the Tuviyahu Archive of the Negev