Vignette to photo of Menachem Magidor, Joel Gelernter, Murray Stein, John Krystal, Pablo Gejman, Ehud Olmert and Bernard Lerer, taken in Jerusalem  in 2001at the  U.S. Israel Conference on Academic Psychiatry

by Bernard Lerer

        The year 2001 was challenging for Israelis. In the wake of the failed Camp David Peace Conference between Israel and the Palestinians, a wave of terror swept the country. There was great concern for personal safety. Tourism declined and international conferences were cancelled or moved elsewhere. On this background, a group of prominent U.S. psychiatrists and researchers, Joel Gelernter, Pablo Gejman, John Krystal and Murray Stein, decided to show solidarity with their Israeli colleagues. They came to Israel to visit research centers and to be keynote speakers at an international conference, the U.S. Israel Conference for Academic Psychiatry, that was organized by the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel (NIPI). Bernard Lerer was Director of NIPI at the time. Several leading Israeli researchers gave talks at the conference which was very well attended. As a mark of their appreciation to the US speakers, Prof. Menachem Magidor, President of the Hebrew University, and Mr. Ehud Olmert, Mayor of Jerusalem, attended the Opening Ceremony and welcomed the participants.

October 14, 2021