How Living Through War in Israel Reinforced Keren Amkraut's Calling to Medicine

Born and raised in New Jersey, Amkraut lived in Israel from 2005 to 2008, when her mother, a Jewish educator was selected for the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows. Growing up with educator parents and four siblings, she quickly came to view the country as home.

“Israeli kids are given both a strong sense of community belonging and lot of freedom to discover themselves,” she said. “I think I've spent my life trying to recreate that.”

That early sense of belonging would remain with her long after returning to the United States, and eventually drew her back to Israel, shaping the physician she hopes to become.

At Duke University, Amkraut was drawn to the human-centered nature of science and earned bachelor’s degrees in English and neuroscience, a field she viewed as a bridge between rigorous science and understanding the human experience.

Working at her pediatrician’s small family clinic in New Jersey, Amkraut worked with many Ukrainian refugees, assisting patients, providing guidance on clinic procedures, and performing minor diagnostic tests, building on her previous service as an EMT and supporting refugee populations.
 
“Growing up, my parents raised us with a strong sense of responsibility to social action, and I did a lot of work with special-needs kids. When I realized that I was good at science, medicine felt like natural outgrowth of those interests,” Amkraut reflected.  
 
The experience at the clinic reinforced her commitment to medicine, but before beginning medical school, she wanted to further explore her interests and gain a broader perspective of the world. In 2023, Amkraut moved to Tel Aviv, Israel, to participate in a Masa Israel Journey internship as a geopolitical intelligence analyst to explore her interests in politics and writing.

What began as a short-term adventure soon became far more significant than she anticipated, and what was supposed to be a five-month journey turned into three years when shortly after beginning her internship the Israel-Hamas war started. What she witnessed and what she realized she could contribute led to decision to stay in Israel until the start of her first semester at New York Medical College (NYMC).

As the conflict intensified, Amkraut witnessed firsthand the resilience and unity of the communities around her. With flights suspended, Amkraut saw how quickly people came together to help each other and did her part as well.

“I farmed cabbage, taught English, volunteered at shelters, cooked for displaced families, and watched over neighborhood kids while their parents worked," she said. “As long as you had a hand to help, or could be present for someone, you were helpful…I can't properly explain the beauty of what the community was like during that time.”
 
The uncertainty of daily life also brought moments of personal danger. With friends in the Army, Amkraut hosted many Shabbat dinners so that lone soldiers would have a place to be. The night before she was scheduled to take the MCAT at the only testing site in Israel, one of the few sites in the Middle East, the Iran war started, canceling her exam minutes before it was set to begin.
 
Even amid the conflict, she sought opportunities to serve communities whose needs often went unnoticed. Amkraut worked with the children of the country's large Ethiopian community and at the shelter for unhoused women and survivors of domestic violence established at an old bus station, Amkraut aided nurses who brought basic medical supplies and taught the women how to monitor blood pressure and practice preventive care. The experience, she says, shaped the kind of physician she hopes to be, one who meets people where they are.

“There's a whole lot of people who get forgotten about on the day-to-day,” said Amkraut. “There are soldiers and children and people whose houses were destroyed, and all the people around them whose needs are going unmet because of the strain on resources." The experience deepened her commitment to caring for underserved and overlooked populations. It also reinforced the importance of obtaining the training needed to make a broader impact.

Although trained as an EMT in the United States, she was limited in serving abroad. This was one of the many incentives to return to the U.S. and pursue medical training that would allow her to provide care wherever it was needed. Having worked with underserved communities since college, she knew medicine was the path that would give her the greatest opportunity to make a tangible difference. Still, leaving Israel was not easy. Despite the challenges Amkraut says that living in Israel was “amazing, inspiring, any of the good words you can think of. It allowed me to explore more facets of myself and will make me a more well-rounded doctor.”

“I’m here, and I want to [go back and] help, and I know that I could do more, that I've prepared to do more, that I've worked hard to put myself in a position where I could do more. Which is ultimately why I returned back here to school,” she said.

Those experiences continue to influence how she approaches medical training. People often say that it is in medical school that students learn how precious life is. Amkraut said she experienced a glimpse of that long before entering the classroom. Now in her first semester at NYMC, she continues to stay active in her community. She volunteers with ProjectAdam, where she recently taught CPR to middle school students. She is also involved in Jewish student organizations and the Writing Club.

As she pursues her medical degree, Amkraut hopes to build a career serving vulnerable populations, drawing on the lessons she learned through community service, resilience, and human connection. The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she carries with her a deep appreciation for the strength of communities during times of hardship and the responsibility to help others wherever she can.