News and Events

A cornerstone ceremony was recently held for construction a hostel that will host pediatric cancer patients and their families coming to Rambam Health Care Campus for treatment. The hostel is the result of a collaborative effort between multiple organizations and donors.

Research conducted by scientists from Israel and the US shows how cancer cells, considered among the most lethal of human cancers, undergo a kind of metabolic "reprogramming" for their survival. This discovery will contribute to research into more effective treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Due to several different medical conditions, nine-year-old Elia Zach has been in and out of hospitals since she was four-and-a-half years old. Her best hospital visit occurred when Rambam fulfilled her dream of being a midwife for a day in its maternity ward.

A woman underwent 12 hours of surgery to have a tumor removed from her brain. To successfully remove the tumor, which was near the woman’s auditory nerve, surgeons entered through the woman’s ear and drilled a canal to reach the tumor.

Rambam Health Care Campus, Northern Israel’s largest hospital and only Level 1 trauma center, goes the second mile beyond treating patients. Hospital specialists recently participated in several unique knowledge sharing projects with leading medical centers throughout Europe. Israeli medical experience and expertise have become a sought-after commodity.

As of March 1, 2019, Rambam Health Care Campus welcomed its new, and ninth General Director, Dr. Michael Halberthal. For Professor Rafi Beyar this simply means a new title, new goals, and renewed focus on what is near and dear to his heart — Rambam Health Care Campus!

Assembled at Rambam’s 11th annual Department of Cardiac Surgery conference were the leading Israeli cardiac surgeons and hundreds of other physicians and nurses working in the field. In addition to presenting the latest, breakthrough high tech devices, the participants deliberated on the necessity for a multidisciplinary team approach to treatment in order to guarantee the best care.

Today, more than ever, artificial heart implantation is becoming an excellent, accessible solution for people suffering from extreme heart failure, the epidemic of the Western world. Patients no longer have to wait years for a donor heart. The third generation of artificial hearts is here, and accessibility is growing.

M., a prostate cancer patient, needed to undergo radiation treatment. However, as a carrier of a genetic mutation, this form of treatment could also endanger his health and cause intestinal tumors. A new methodology recently introduced at Rambam gives him and other patients hope.

Dr. Michael (Miki) Halberthal, who most recently served as Deputy Director of Rambam, has been appointed Director General and CEO of Rambam Health Care Campus. Dr. Halberthal’s appointment will officially begin March 1, 2019, replacing Professor Rafael (Rafi) Beyar, who served as Rambam's director for the last 13 years and has retired from that position. Dr. Halberthal, 60, married and a father of four from Zichron Yaakov, becomes the ninth director of Northern Israel’s largest hospital.

Rambam Health Care Campus is the only Level 1 trauma center in Northern Israel, treating the most difficult, complex injuries. Recently, an exceptionally rare case was treated at Rambam – a large-scale orthopedic injury not seen every day. During an operation in which a multidisciplinary team took part, six procedures were performed to fix an injury that could have led to serious disability.

The placenta, one of the most fascinating organs in the woman's body, is known for its important properties in helping to ensure fetal safety. Some believe the placenta can also help solve other medical problems. However, an unusual use of the female organ was recently made when Rambam Health Care Campus used a placenta to restore a young woman’s eyesight.

Rabbi Eckstein founded the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1983 and served as its president until his death. He was an American-Israeli activist and sat on the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, United Israel Appeal, and the Jewish Agency. In addition, he wrote seven books and won several prizes for his activities.

Aviva Ofer, matriarch of the philanthropist Ofer family, and the widow of one of Rambam’s beloved donors, the well-known business tycoon, Mr. Sammy Ofer, has passed away in her London home on Saturday, February 2, 2019.

In five years, 40 patients have received chances for new lives thanks to the kidney transplant team at Rambam Health Care Campus’s Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital. Last week, a two-year-old girl joined the ranks of the medical center’s “young transplant family” – the only facility in Northern Israel that performs these surgeries.

An innovative therapeutic approach recently implemented at Rambam, for the first time in Israel, enabled an aortic valve transplant in patients who, in the past, had to undergo repeated open heart surgeries for the same type of procedure. An alternative to open heart surgery, this new technique uses cardiac catheterization in patients at high risk for coronary artery blockage during surgery, a complication that can lead to death.

An Israel-developed robotic heart catheterization system allows the operator to sit kilometers away from the patient lying in the catheterization laboratory. Professor Rafael Beyar, Director of Rambam Health Care Campus, the inventor of this novel robotic system, said: “In the future, we’ll be able to teach the robot how to perform catheterizations by itself.”

Joseph Schansky, 47, from Haifa, Israel, had been a model for healthy living. This did not prevent a life-threatening stroke. In a dramatic race for his life, Rambam physicians saved him and, within a few days, he safely returned to his usual activities.

On December 25, a very special ceremony was held to honor a special friend of Rambam.

Almost 50 years after serving as a breeding ground for Israel’s doctors and researchers, the old medical school on the hospital campus became a new bridge connecting the past with the future. The original research laboratory of the 2004 Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry, which today serves as a surgical skills training center, has become a marker of the history of Israeli science and a source of inspiration for future generations.