Dr Basil Porter has an M.B.B.Ch. (University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) and an MPH-Master of Public Health (Hebrew University, Jerusalem). He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and went to school at Parktown Boys High and was an active member of Habonim.

He specialized in Pediatrics in Israel and the USA and is an Associate Professor, Ben Gurion University. In Israel he worked as a pediatrician and academic in the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Ben Gurion, Beersheva and in managerial positions in Maccabi Health Services.

Basil settled in Israel in1967. His main hobby is amateur chamber music (violin and viola).