Professor Rafael (Rafi) Beyar, born in Tel Aviv in 1952, graduated from the School of Medicine of Tel Aviv University in 1977 (MD), the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion in 1983 (DSc),  and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, in 2008 (MPH). In 1983, he founded the Heart System Research Center at the Technion where he served as Coordinator and Director. He completed his residency in medicine at Rambam (1983-1985) and a fellowship in cardiology at Johns Hopkins University (1985-1987). He was appointed Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at the Technion in 1996 and served as Director of the Division of Invasive Cardiology at Rambam. He served as Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University for several years. In 1998, he was elected Dean of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion and served for a full term. Under his leadership, Professor Avram Hershko and Professor Aaron Ciechanover, members of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in October 2004.

Professor Beyar has received prestigious prizes over the course of his career, among them the Taub Prize for Excellence in Research in 1999 and the Michelle Mirowski Award for Accomplishments in Cardiovascular Medicine, Israel Heart Association, in 2002.   In 2005, he was nominated to the prestigious Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars for his contributions to cardiovascular science and for establishing the Technion-Johns Hopkins Collaboration Program in Biomedical Sciences and Engineering.
Beyar’s research and clinical interests range from mathematical simulation to imaging and analysis of the cardiovascular system, as well as the development of stents and new technology in cardiology. He has authored over 150 scientific publications and 11 books, is founder and editor of Acute Cardiac Care Journal which is endorsed by the European Society of Cardiology, and regularly convenes leading professional cardiovascular conferences.

Prof. Beyar has been General Director of Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, the major academic hospital serving northern Israel, since February 2006.  In the summer of 2006, during the Second Lebanon War, he led the hospital through the Second Lebanon War when Rambam was treating patients under fire. Beyar is now spearheading a major development plan in both clinical and research facilities at Rambam, combining medical science and technology to optimize patients’ health care.