Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (formerly the Sackler Faculty of Medicine) is a

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

affiliated with

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, located in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

History

The Sackler School of Medicine was named for

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

Mortimer Mortimer is an English surname. Norman origins The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; one 11th century figure associ ...

and

Raymond Sackler Raymond Sackler (February 16, 1920 – July 17, 2017) was an American physician and businessman. He acquired Purdue Pharma together with his brothers Arthur M. Sackler and Mortimer Sackler. Purdue Pharma is the developer of OxyContin, the dr ...

Purdue Pharma Purdue Pharma L.P., formerly the Purdue Frederick Company (1892–2019), was an American privately held pharmaceutical company founded by John Purdue Gray. It was sold to Arthur Sackler, Arthur, Mortimer Sackler, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler in 1 ...

, the Sacklers' pharmaceutical company, was the developer of OxyContin, a version of the opioid analgesic compound,

oxycodone Oxycodone, sold under the brand name Roxicodone and OxyContin (which is the extended-release form) among others, is a semi-synthetic opioid used medically for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. It is highly addictive and is a commonly ...

. All three Sacklers were medical professionals who made substantial donations to the school. Each year the school has presented the

Sackler Prize The Sackler Prize is named for the Sackler family and can indicate any of the following three awards established by Raymond Sackler and his wife Beverly Sackler currently bestowed by the Tel Aviv University. The Sackler family is known for its rol ...

for a significant contribution to the fields of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. The school has consistently been ranked one of the 151-200 best medical schools according to the Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.

Naming Controversy

Tel Aviv University received public pressure to remove the Sackler name from the name of the medical school due to ongoing controversy regarding the

Sackler family The Sackler family is an American family who owned the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma and later founded Mundipharma. Purdue Pharma, and some members of the family, have faced lawsuits regarding overprescription of addictive pharmaceutical dr ...

and their alleged role in and lawsuits pertaining to the marketing and, consequently, the overprescription of addictive pharmaceutical drugs, including OxyContin. In 2019,

Physicians for Human Rights–Israel Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHR-I or PHR-IL; ) is a non-governmental, non-profit, human rights organization based in Jaffa. Physicians for Human Rights–Israel was founded in 1988 with the goal of promoting "a just society where the ...

said it had sent a letter to the dean of the Sackler School of Medicine requesting that the family’s name be removed. Rabbi

Yuval Cherlow Yuval Cherlow (; born 1957) is a Modern Orthodox rabbi and posek. He is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Amit Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv, Israel. Cherlow was one of the founders of Tzohar, an organization of religious Zionist Orthodox rabbis in Isr ...

, a leading ethicist in Israel and ethics chairman at both Israel’s organ donation association and Tzohar, a group that reaches out to secular Jews, has publicly criticized the Medical Program for maintaining the name. The Medical school decided in 2022 to remove the Sackler name from their U.S. facing Medical Program. In 2023 the Tel Aviv University administration reached an agreement with the Sackler family to remove the name Sackler from the Faculty of Medicine. The name was changed to the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in February 2024. In May 2025, it was announced that Jonathan Gray and his wife Mindy will donate $125 million dollars through the Gray Foundation to the faculty, which will be renamed the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.

Schools

*School of Medicine *New York State / American Program *School of Public Health *School of Continuing Medical Education (CME) *School of Dental Medicine *The Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions *The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Graduate School of Medicine

New York State-American Program

The New York State/American Program is chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York and is accredited by the State of Israel. Established in 1976, the Program is taught in English and has a student population of 250. The program is open to citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada. The goal of the program is to provide graduates with a comprehensive academic foundation in the science of human disease and the clinical skills needed for diagnoses and treatment. Sackler strives to cultivate qualities that foster an empathetic, ethical doctor-patient relationship. Its curriculum and teaching methods are modeled after those of U.S. medical schools. Classes are small. Classroom, laboratory and clinical sessions are supplemented by self-study and by tutoring and seminars in small groups. Clinical clerkships begin in the third year. At the beginning of the fourth year, students take 16 weeks of electives at U.S. medical institutions. Israeli teaching institutions affiliated with Sackler include seven major medical centers, seven psychiatric hospitals, 20 research institutes and a large rehabilitation center. Graduates enter the

National Resident Matching Program The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), also called The Match, is a United States–based private non-profit non-governmental organization created in 1952 to place U.S. Medical education in the United States, medical school students into res ...

to secure medical residencies, much like students from medical schools in the US.

References

External links