International March of the Living pays tribute to medical resistance and heroes of the Holocaust in symposium dedicated to "Medicine and Morality"

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• Israel - English

TEL AVIV, Israel, April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 7^th, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Jewish calendar, International March of the Living, together with the Maimonides Institute for Ethics and the Holocaust, the Miller Center at Rutgers University, the USC Shoah Foundation and Teva Pharmaceuticals, will hold a special symposium on "Medicine and Morality: Lessons from the Holocaust and COVID-19".

The program will include testimony from survivors who were both persecuted by Nazi doctors as well as saved by medical professionals during the Holocaust. It will also feature world renowned medical professionals and researchers who will discuss medical resistance during the Holocaust, the legacy of Nazi medicine and what the Holocaust can teach us about the ethics of care.

During the symposium, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the U.S. President, will receive the "Moral Courage in Medicine" award for his work in combatting COVID-19, his long history of leading the battle against infectious diseases, and his dedication to the health and wellbeing of humankind.

The event will also include a moving performance of 'Schindler's List' by Grammy Award winner and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador of Music, Miri Ben-Ari. A renowned violinist, producer and humanitarian, Ben-Ari is also the descendant of Holocaust survivors.

Participating organizations include the World Medical Association, Department of Education of the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics, Israeli Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association, Indian Medical Association, South African Medical Association and many others. The program has been approved for 1.5 ACCME credits for participating physicians and nurses.

Vice-Chair of the International March of the Living, Prof. David Machlis, and Founding Director of the Maimonides Institute for Ethics and the Holocaust, Dr. Stacy Gallin, noted that this year in particular, it is appropriate to honor the activities and heroism of the medical community during the Holocaust, by inviting practicing medical professionals to participate in all of the March's events. "We believe that hundreds of medical staff and medical students will tune in to watch a program that will be both informative and poignant," said Prof. Machlis.

Dr. Eran Harary, VP, TA Head, Neurology and Psychiatry, Global Specialty R&D:"The Nazis and their collaborators worked systematically to exterminate our people, conducting monstrous experiments. We are now a world leader when it comes to science and medicine, developing drugs and bringing improved health to the lives of patients across the world. From a nation that was condemned to death and destruction during the Holocaust, we are a people engaged in preserving life".

International March of the Living is the largest annual international Holocaust education program which, until the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020, has taken place in Poland and Israel without interruption, since its inception in 1988. To date, close to 300,000 International March of the Living participants have marched en masse along the 3.2-kilometer path from Auschwitz to Birkenau, against prejudice, intolerance and hate and in tribute to the greatest loss in the history of the Jewish people.

The event will be broadcast online on Wednesday April 7 at 19.00 ET. Visit the following link to register: https://www.motl.org/medicine/ 

Promo video: https://youtu.be/G5l-dGf04Ok

Video: https://youtu.be/G5l-dGf04Ok

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1479819/International_March.jpg

SOURCE International March of the Living