The gift is the largest in Tel Aviv University’s history, and is expected to help relieve Israel’s shortage of doctors.
As Israel faces a doctor shortage, Jonathan Gray, the president of the investment firm Blackstone, and his wife, Mindy, are donating $125 million to Tel Aviv University’s health science and medical school.
The donation, through the Grays’ foundation, is the largest ever to Tel Aviv University, and is expected to allow the medical school enrollment to increase by a quarter. The funds will support, among other things, a new 600-bed dormitory, scholarships and new teaching facilities.
Israel’s limited capacity for medical training has contributed to a persistent shortage of doctors. As of 2020, the number of doctors per capita was about 10 percent below the average of countries in the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development.
“When Israeli students go to study medicine abroad, some of them stay — and for us, it’s a loss” Professor Ariel Porat, the university’s president, said. “This is the brain drain that people talk about in many other fields, but it’s especially acute with doctors.”
And Israel’s doctors are getting older, exacerbating the problem. Nearly half of the country’s doctors are older than 50, and about 25 percent are at least 67 years old.
In response to the shortage, Israeli officials have announced a number of initiatives to recruit more doctors, including interest-free loans for Israeli medical students studying abroad if they agree to return to Israel after graduation.