Jewish HEALTHstory Month Lecture

Join us on May 13, 2026, from 12:00-1:30 PM and explore the HEALTHstory Month series. This specfic lecture will be delivered by Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., Chancellor & CEO, New York Medical College, Professor of Radiation Oncology, Pediatrics, & History, and Endowed Chair in Biomedical Ethics After the Holocaust. Virtually engage in the the history of health and medicine across U.S. populations, offering insight into the nation’s public health landscape. Each May, Jewish American Heritage Month honors the contributions of Jewish Americans to medicine and society.

In 1959, internist and medical historian Saul Jarcho, M.D. (1906–2000) argued that claims of an antisemitic quota limiting Jewish admission to North American medical schools lacked sufficient historical precision. In this lecture, Dr. Halperin revisits and challenges that conclusion, presenting compelling evidence that both formal and informal quotas did, in fact, restrict Jewish enrollment. At a time when Jewish applicants made up nearly 60% of the applicant pool, they were routinely limited to just 5–20% of matriculants.  Dr. Halperin examines key moments that illuminate these practices, including the 1927 assault on Jewish interns at Kings County Hospital and the 1934 Montreal interns’ strike protesting the appointment of a Jewish physician. The lecture concludes by tracing how and why these quotas began to dissolve after World War II and considers their ongoing relevance today—from white supremacist ideology and immigration debates to affirmative action and the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decisions.