AMA honors International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel; presents ethics program with U.S. Holocaust museum

CHICAGO — Honoring International Holocaust Remembrance Day this Sunday in Israel, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) will present the Israeli Medical Association with an educational program on Nazi medical practices during the Holocaust and its impact on the development of medical ethics.

"We are honored to present this program in Israel," said AMA Immediate Past-President J. Edward Hill, MD. "Learning from the past, we can prevent the horrors of history from being repeated."

"The AMA is proud to have partnered with the U.S. Holocaust Museum to educate medical professionals and local communities on the impact of the atrocities of Nazi medical practices on the development of medical ethics," said Dr. Hill. "This unique educational partnership has brought together medical, ethical and historical expertise in an unprecedented way, showcasing a new and effective model for ethics educational outreach."

In 2005, the two organizations partnered to develop a collaborative lecture series program based on the USHMM exhibition, "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race." The AMA-USHMM lecture series, which has been presented across the U.S. over the last two years, focuses on the role that Nazi medical practices played in the development of medical ethics and the lessons today's physicians have learned from the period leading up to the Holocaust.

"The story of medicine under Nazism is instructive and an important theme in understanding the evolution of the Holocaust," said Patricia Heberer, PhD, historian at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the USHMM. "The collaboration of the USHMM and the AMA Institute for Ethics presents a unique opportunity to explore this topic, both in terms of history and contemporary issues, and to bring the lessons drawn to students, physicians, and faculty in universities around the country."

This educational program has reached more than 6,000 people in the past two years, and has visited 12 states, 15 medical schools and made a total of 60 stops at community centers, health professional schools, classrooms and other venues across the nation. The trip to Israel will be the final stop for the lecture series, and the AMA and USHMM will present the program to two groups of medical students in Israel, including the Israeli Medical Student Association.

Presenters of the program in Israel include AMA Immediate Past President J. Edward Hill, MD; Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH, director of the AMA Institute for Ethics; and Patricia Heberer, PhD, historian at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the USHMM.

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For more information, please contact:

Melissa Smith
AMA Media Relations
(312) 464-4443

Robert J. Mills
AMA Media Relations
(312) 464-5970