WOMED is a first of its kind initiative, designed to promote outstanding young female doctors to the core of medical practice in Israel. The program, which was established five years ago, is based on workshops and personal mentoring of the young doctors by veteran doctors who play a senior role in the health system.
Each mentee is personally accompanied by an experienced doctor who is a role model and a source of support and inspiration for the young doctor. The goal is to provide tools for growth in the professional path (clinical, academic and administrative), while assisting in responding to the unique challenges facing women in the medical system.
The creators of the program wanted to promote a broader goal of promoting women to key positions in the health system in Israel, in a variety of areas of specialization and in the various sectors of Israeli society. The program, which is currently managed by Dr. Dana Cohen, CEO of WoMed and gynecology trainee at Wolfson Medical Center and a dedicated team of doctors, is based on a fully voluntary model of the program team and the group of senior mentoring doctors.
The unique program is currently launching its sixth annual cycle. In light of its great success on the one hand and its limited resources on the other hand, the program in its current form does not have the capacity to respond to the growing demand from female doctors for the support it provides.
On average, about four young female doctors who are in various stages of joining the medical system in Israel are competing for each mentorship place available in the program. The female doctors who graduated from the program testify that it had a very significant impact on their choices and development as new doctors in the system.
In order to help the program grow both numerically and in other directions of activity, which include providing scholarships to outstanding doctors, promoting international fellowship programs, and more, WOMED joined the broad umbrella of the international philanthropic foundation, Merit Spread.
The foundation, which promotes social action in a variety of fields, offers unique philanthropy programs for large donors. The development of the program is based on defining clear and measurable goals, according to the standards used in the business world and that are less common in the philanthropic world.
The founder of Merit Spread, Mr. Alon Tal, a seasoned financier who heads Alpha Group, an international investment fund management group, decided to promote the WOMED program and provide it with organizational, financial and legal assistance levers. This is because he recognized its excellence and the ability to have a real impact both on the health system in Israel and on the possibility of promoting the issue of gender equality in Israel, which is one of the main areas that the Merit Spread Foundation has set to promote.
The combination between the financially solid international philanthropic foundation with the international network of contacts, and the dedicated team of doctors who founded and operates the program is expected to help the program grow and have a positive impact on the health system in Israel.
