Jewish healthcare professionals who have experienced antisemitic discrimination in the workplace or who are interested in getting involved with advocating for their fellow Jewish colleagues can do so with the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario (JMAO).

JMAO will be hosting an event in Ottawa on September 17, Safe & Proud, supported by a Jewish Federation of Ottawa Microgrant, for local Jewish healthcare workers to network and support one another. Recently, the Ottawa Jewish E-Bulletin sat down with JMAO’s Director of Strategy, Advocacy, and Stakeholder Relations, Robyn Berman, to learn more about what the association does and what people should know about this September’s event. 

E-Bulletin: What is JMAO? How did it get started and what are its goals?

Robyn Berman: JMAO is an organization that was born out of necessity in the wake of October 7th. 

As Jewish healthcare professionals from across many fields began commiserating with one other about the overtly antisemitic and antizionist experiences they have experienced in the workplace, the community began to mobilize and come together in a very grassroots way, mostly to have a supportive community of likeminded individuals. In this way, JMAO formed very organically.

We realized that we needed to come together as a community and to advocate for Jewish healthcare professionals with a unified voice. This includes people working in hospitals, community clinics, and universities and colleges where healthcare professions are taught and learned.

The two physicians who co-founded JMAO are in Toronto: Dr. Ayelet Kuper and Dr. Lisa Salamon. They brought together other leaders from the medical community to create what was then established as our board of directors. We officially became a not-for-profit in December 2023, and three years later, we have around 700 members.

The need for this kind of group has never been more important. There are so many examples that happen at every level of the healthcare profession where Jews are experiencing discrimination, from the very top where Jewish people are being pushed out of leadership opportunities to how Jewish patients are choosing to access care across the province.

E-Bulletin: How did you get involved in healthcare? How did you get involved with JMAO?

Robyn Berman: I trained to become a healthcare provider later in my life. Once I had my kids, I started to get interested in and involved with women’s health advocacy. I became involved at the grassroots level of advocacy for accessibility in women’s health. I first worked as a birth and postpartum doula, as well as a lactation educator for almost decade. 

Inspired by these experiences, I went back to school and became a midwife. Becoming a midwife was a very intentional choice for me. At the time when I trained, midwifery was a newly regulated healthcare profession in Nova Scotia, where my family and I were living at the time.

I continued working as a midwife when my family relocated here, and again, I began getting involved with advocacy in professional settings, such as working conditions for healthcare providers.

I eventually completed my MBA a few years ago, and from there, became really interested in delving into healthcare system delivery leadership. It was during this time that I experienced antisemitism in the workplace and ended up reaching out to JMAO out of need.

It was through these organic ways that we found one another, connecting with other Jewish midwives in Ontario and working with them to advocate for ourselves within our own profession. It was through the encouragement of my peers that I applied to be on the board of JMAO when they put out a call for nominations and I was elected. In 2025, within a short period of time, I found myself able to contribute to the board in a number of areas. 

As JMAO continued to grow, the board began to recognize the need to hire somebody into a staff position to be able to take the Association into its next stage of growth. Eventually, I was hired as the Director of Strategy, Advocacy, and Stakeholder Relations.

E-Bulletin: JMAO will be holding an event in Ottawa in September. What will happen at this event and what should people who are curious about attending know?

Robyn Berman: JMAO puts on many events throughout the year. 

The one in Ottawa in September is called “Safe & Proud,” and is one that JMAO co-sponsors. Like most of the things we’ve discussed, this event was also formed very organically through a group of doctors in Ottawa as a way to bring people together and quite specifically bring together learners and trainees with healthcare professionals to be able to have a conversation and discuss safely in community what it means to be Jewish and a healthcare provider, and how we are navigating what has become a complex time for people at that intersection.

JMAO was thrilled to help support this event, and we are very grateful to have received a Microgrant from the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

There is usually a keynote speaker, and last year we had over 100 attendees. This year, we’re hoping for even more. Whether you’re a Jewish student or trainee, a resident or a fellow in medicine or any other sector of healthcare, we’re open to having you join us. You don’t need to be a JMAO member to attend.

To learn more about JMAO, click here to visit their website or you can reach out to Robyn Berman directly at [email protected].