News and Events

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.

During the last weeks of December, the city of Haifa has a huge celebrate called, the "Holiday of Holidays." During this time, Jewish, Christian, and Isalmic holidays that fall in December are celebrated and people come to Haifa from all over Israel to participate in the fun. However, holidays in the hospital are never fun, and so, in the spirit of the Holiday of Holidays, Santa visited children in Rambam's Ruth Rappaport Children's Hospital

An event honoring the Zukier family for their donation of The Zukier Family Comprehensive Epilepsy Center of Excellence was held on December 13, 2018 in the Ruth Rappaport Children's Hospital at Rambam Health Care Campus.

Today (Wednesday, December 12), a ceremony was held to celebrate completion of the first floor for the Helmsley Health Discovery Tower, under construction at the heart of Rambam Health Care Campus. Attending were representatives of Rambam’s administration, Friends of Rambam, University of Haifa, and the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology.

No child wants to be hospitalized during Hanukkah, a holiday filled with fun, games, laughter, and lighting of the menorah. So you can imagine how excited the children in Rambam’s Ruth Rappaport Children's Hospital were when an anonymous Australian donor sent a transport of toys—just for them!

Dr. Rashad Abusaleh, a senior doctor in the Department of Vascular Surgery and Transplantation at Rambam Health Care Campus was appointed by the International Union of Angiology (IUA) to be the International Youth Vice Chairman of the Young Committee of the International Union of Angiology.