ROM-Galil (Family Medicine)

Family Medicine - The Key to Health Security

ROM-Galil (previously called Tsafon Yarok) is a new, innovative program for highly motivated and idealistic medical students who believe in life-long learning and the importance of community, and would like to specialize in Community Medicine, in the Galilee.

The northern region of Israel, like most communities located in the the geographical and socio-economic periphery, suffers from a shortage of physicians and minimal accessibility to medical services. ROM-Galil (ROM is an acronym of "refua vemishpacha" - family medicine), headed by Dr. Anat Einy, is designed to be an incentive for outstanding students to choose to specialize in high level academic community medicine, stay and work in the Galilee, by providing these future physicians with the tools needed for success.

Community doctors are the first address and ultimately, the closest to the patient. They are the front line, They are responsible for disease prevention, initial diagnosis, guidance, and follow-up if and as further relevant treatment is called for. Placing talented, ideological, empathic physicians, in vulnerable geographic settings, offers considerable potential for health security to the medical and social landscape. We believe that the first doctors patients see, should be excellent.

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, like all other medical schools in Israel and around the world, lays the groundwork and provides foundations of research and clinical practice. Azrieli, however, has had another clearly-defined goal from day one, setting it apart from the rest: fighting health disparities, by strengthening and promoting the challenged populations of the periphery, especially in the North. This is viewed as the major mission entrusted to the Faculty by the Israeli government upon the decision to open its doors in 2011. 

From the time they are accepted as medical students, this special cadre receives extra tuition and financial assistance, and attention is placed on making sure the students' families are welcomed and settled in. In addition to the basic medical studies, ROM-Galil students are offered special courses in the humanities and social sciences, with early exposure to the specialties of family medicine in the social and geographic periphery. In addition, they benefit from a unique mentoring program. In exchange, these students commit to Community Medicine in the North upon graduation.

For more information, write to us here.