Professor Michael (Miki) Halberthal is the Director General of Rambam Health Care Campus. Born in Tel Aviv in 1958, he is married and the father of four. Professor Halberthal earned his M.D. in 1986 from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. His postgraduate training was completed at Rambam Health Care campus in Pediatrics (1992) and Pediatric Critical Care (1996). As one of Rambam's leading postgraduate trainees, Professor Halberthal was chosen to pursue a further subspecialty fellowship in Pediatric Cardiac Clinical Care at the world-renowned Brompton and Harefield Institute in London, U.K. After returning to Israel, Professor Halberthal successfully established the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Service at Rambam, which continues to be one of the most active and successful services of its kind. In 1998, Professor Halberthal completed a combined advanced clinical and research fellowship at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada.
In addition to numerous hospital activities, Professor Halberthal completed his M.H.A. in Health and Hospital Administration at Tel Aviv University's Recanati School of Business Administration (2012). Since 2001, Professor Halberthal has held various professional leadership positions at Rambam, including serving as the Director of Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care, Director of Hospital-wide Emergency Triage, and Senior Staff Physician in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Rambam. In 2009, he joined the Executive Leadership at Rambam and as the Director of Medical Operations. At the end of 2013 Professor Halberthal was appointed Deputy Director of Rambam, primarily responsible for medical human resources; allied medical services; safety, quality, and risk management; emergency preparedness, the international trauma school. He is Chairman of Rambam’s Teaching Center for Trauma, Emergency, and Mass Casualty Situations (MCS) since 2014. At the national level, Professor Halberthal is the chairman of Israel’s Medical Adminstration Association; the Israel Medical Association’s Forum for Government Hospital Directors; the International Center for Trauma Education and Emergency Preparedness; and a member of the National Council for Digital Health and the National Council for Trauma and Emergency Medicine, as well as a member of various healthcare related forums and committees.
Professor Halberthal was appointed as Director General of Rambam in 2019. In that role he has been leading Northern Israel’s only tertiary health care and Level 1 Trauma center through the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. He oversaw the opening of the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital in 2020 to care for the overflow of COVID-19 patients – requiring a significant team and organizational effort at every level. He is a much-in-demand speaker on topics related to hospital organization and function in emergency situations, be they related to trauma or diseases such as COVID-19.
Professor Halberthal served for over 30 years in the Israel Defense Forces Airborne Rescue and Evacuation Unit. He was actively involved in the coordination of international civilian air rescue and transport of emergency care patients.
A Clinical Associate Professor in the Technion’s Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Professor Halberthal is active in research and has published scholarly articles in the areas of hospital management, pediatric critical care, trauma and mass casualty preparedness, and airborne medicine. He is an active and highly regarded lecturer and teacher to medical students, residents and fellows, nursing staff and students, and allied health professionals in those domains of expertise.