Dr. Rachel Adato inspires URI Hillel students

Meeting with Dr. Rachel Adato are (left to right): Meagan Hamblin, president of URI Delta Epsilon Mu; Ellie Rosen, Israel chair of the URI Hillel Student Board; Dr. Adato; Lauren Cohen, president of the URI Hillel Student Board.

KINGSTON, R.I. – On. Oct. 23, Dr. Rachel Adato, physician, lawyer and former Knesset member, spoke at the University of Rhode Island Hillel to a rapt audience of students and community members about her life and experiences as a pioneering Israeli doctor, politician and women’s health advocate.

Adato, the first female gynecologist in Jerusalem, attended medical school in Israel at a time when there was a quota of 10 percent for female students. She began her speech by telling the audience about her fight to become a doctor. Her adviser discouraged her dream of becoming a gynecologist saying that no woman would want to be seen by a female gynecologist. She could not believe that “stupid sentence came out of his mouth.” Thus began a lifelong philosophy of not taking “no” for an answer.

Adato served as a senior doctor in the women’s department of Hadassah Medical Center at Mount Scopus, becoming deputy director of Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem in 1993. In 1995 she became vice-president of Sha’arei Tzedek Medical Center. When she was elected to the Israeli parliament in 2009, she became chairwoman of the Welfare and Health Committee.  

Adato worked to transform the image of what it means to be a healthy woman by sponsoring legislation that became known as the “Photoshop Law.” In 2012, the Israeli parliament passed legislation that banned models with a Body Mass Index of less than 18.5 from appearing in print ads. Models now have to supply medical documents stating that they fit the qualifications to model. The second part of the law requires that there be no graphic editing of an image to make the model appear thinner. If the image is graphically altered, it has to be cited. Adato was successful in convincing the legislators that unhealthy body image and problems with teenage anorexia and bulimia were linked to media images of women.

According to Adato, 15 percent of Israeli youth suffer from eating disorders. “The first cause of death among teenage boys and girls is anorexia,” she said.  “This is something people are not talking about.”  This law and the publicity it has received is educating people around the world about healthy living and good body image.

Adato encouraged students to get involved in politics in order to make change. She talked starting small, educating yourself and fighting for what you believe in. This resonated with the student audience of many pre-medical students. One student asked what advice she would give to a woman who wanted to be a surgeon. Like Nike, Adato said, “Just do it.” Nothing has stopped Adato from fighting for what she believes in.

Adato’s political party did not receive enough votes, so she is no longer in the Israeli parliament. However, she would love to be re-elected in the future. In the meantime, Adato is working as a doctor three days a week in an out-patient clinic. She travels, giving speeches, and said she especially enjoys meeting with college audiences.

BRITTNEY LIEF is a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island, majoring in film media and minoring in journalism.