[The centenary of the first medical meeting in Eretz Israel--the Trachoma Conference of 1914]

Abstract

In the spring of 1914 the Jewish physicians in Eretz Israel held their first professional conference in Jerusalem. A total of 24 out of 48 doctors participated. The subject of the conference was trachoma, a common eye disease and a major cause of blindness in the Middle East. The meeting was remarkably successful in every respect and had significant influence on the merging of the Jaffa and Jerusalem physicians' societies into the Hebrew Medical Association. Thus the Trachoma Conference of 1914 became a milestone in the history of medicine in the Holy Land.