Southern Israel’s university hospital – delivering comprehensive excellence and pioneering cardiac, fertility, and surgical innovation
Southern Israel’s university hospital – delivering comprehensive excellence and pioneering cardiac, fertility, and surgical innovation
Kaplan Medical Center is Israel’s premier university hospital for southern Israel, serving 1.5 million residents across the Shephelah, Central, and Southern regions with 581 beds, 22 departments, and 23 specialized institutes.
Founded in 1953 and affiliated with Hebrew University, Kaplan delivers 37,763 annual admissions with pioneering cardiac care, innovative fertility services, and robotically-assisted surgery. The center ranks first in national quality metrics for several specialties and combines clinical excellence with international research partnerships and robust medical education.
Kaplan serves exceptionally diverse populations: religiously observant communities characteristic of the region, new immigrants from former Soviet Union, new arrivals from Ethiopia, broad Sephardic communities, Holocaust survivors, and other minorities.
Many patients are from socially peripheral communities requiring culturally sensitive, accessible care. The center’s demographic breadth demands individualized, respectful responses across all care dimensions.
Kaplan Medical Center leads nationally in integrated, patient-centered care through Israel’s largest Cardiac Center, pioneering a One Stop Shop model that unites all cardiac disciplines under one roof.
Inpatient and ambulatory care, surgery, catheterization, intensive cardiac care, advanced imaging, rehabilitation, and clinical research function as a single coordinated system, eliminating fragmented handoffs and markedly improving the patient experience.
All cardiac imaging – including CT and newly approved MRI – is performed by cardiologists with dedicated imaging subspecialization, ensuring clinical insight at every diagnostic stage. Beyond cardiology, Kaplan’s IVF unit conducts over 700 cycles annually with highly personalized care, while its surgical department delivers emergency and elective procedures using minimally invasive and robotic techniques as standard practice.
Since October 2023, Kaplan treated approximately 1,700 military and civilian war casualties. On October 7 alone, the hospital’s emergency department received over 100 casualties in a single day—unprecedented in hospital history. Many required prolonged hospitalization and repeated surgeries.
Medical and nursing teams provided unwavering care and maintained contact with survivors to the present day. During active threats, departments were repeatedly evacuated and reorganized. Hospital staff managed these complex operations with extraordinary professionalism while maintaining complete continuity of patient care.
• Constructing new building to accommodate population growth and expand surgical capabilities with protected surgical and hospitalization spaces
• Expanded robotic surgery (additional da Vinci systems)
• Advanced imaging expansion (MRI and PET-CT)
• Establishment of brain catheterization service
• Obstetric services upgrade to modern standards with private postpartum rooms for each mother
• Expanded protected spaces for both patients and staff during emergencies
• Infrastructure modernization from aging 1950s facilities
The Israel Healthcare Foundation (IHF) is the U.S.-based partner of Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest and most trusted healthcare organization.
Since 2011, IHF has connected global donors, partners, and institutions to support Clalit’s mission of delivering equitable, excellent, and accessible healthcare to every corner and segment of Israeli society.
For more than 20 years, Dr. Danielle Thau has been a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Stamford, CT. She specializes in treating patients and families who are experiencing chronic or acute medical crisis. She served as the Officer of Education and Israel Liaison of the Jewish Community Mental Health Initiative (JCMHI). Additionally, Dr. Thau is a member of the Board of Overseers at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, contributing her expertise to the advancement of psychological education and practice.
Director, Institutional Advancement
Rebekah Raz is a seasoned nonprofit development professional with over 25 years of experience cultivating major gifts and building strategic donor relationships within the Jewish community. As Senior Fundraiser for the Israel Healthcare Foundation, she connects high-capacity supporters to transformative healthcare projects across Israel. Her deep personal and professional ties to Israel fuel her commitment to strengthening its hospitals and frontline care.
Development Operations Manager
Sophia coordinates comprehensive development activities for the Israel Healthcare Foundation, serving as a key liaison between the U.S. team and our partners in Israel. She manages large-scale events, strategic donor stewardship, and oversees the complete lifecycle of major grant portfolios from initial application through final reporting. Additionally, Sophia leads research initiatives to identify and evaluate prospective donors and funding opportunities.
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College, where she studied American Literature and Creative Writing.
Senior Resource Advisor
Margy-Ruth Davis is the founder and chair of Perry Davis Associates. Founded in 1986, Perry Davis Associates specializes in fundraising, board development and strategic planning. Ms. Davis formerly served as Executive Director of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry. In that capacity she organized the Solidarity Sunday marches; over 250,000 joined the marches each year. Ms. Davis was also the Associate Director of the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center, where she established the Development Department; created an ongoing program of foundation support and corporate membership; and oversaw all aspects of board and donor relations. She currently heads the PDA strategic development program and supervises the communications and outreach strategy for a number of top clients.
Senior Resource Advisor
Perry Davis is the founder and president of Perry Davis Associates. Founded in 1986, Perry Davis Associates specializes in fundraising, board development and strategic planning. He has served in key positions in government, education, and the private sector. As the New York City Partnership’s Vice President for Economic Development, he directed the completion of the Partnership’s strategic plan and its new project selection process, and developed its first program-related budget of $8 million. Prior to joining the Partnership, Mr. Davis was the Director of Funded Programs for the New York City Board of Education, where he raised $350 million annually. Mr. Davis, who holds a doctorate in Government and Administration from Columbia University, has also served as an Assistant to the Mayor of New York City. He is the editor and a contributing author of a book on public-private partnerships published by the Academy of Political Science and has served as guest speaker at conferences sponsored by the White House, the International Downtown Association, and various corporations.
Steve is a member and Chair of the Public-Private Partnership Working Group and President of The United States Global Development Council. Steve is one of twelve Americans plus the Secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury to serve. Prior to this role, He previously served as CEO of the world largest international Jewish social service agency, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
John Richards, MD, MMM, CPE, began his healthcare career as a family and emergency medicine physician in the United States Army. He served as faculty at the Medical College of Georgia. Starting in 1980, as an early adopter of technology in health care, he has been a serial entrepreneur with over 35 startup companies. Dr. Richards pioneered concepts and products in many health-related fields: health promotion, disease prevention, mail-order pharmacy, physician office dispensing, alternate site infusion therapy, health care data acquisition and mining, and cost containment to name but a few. Dr. Richards has worked for over 4 decades to reformat population health & its delivery, consumer and provider access & expectations and medical systems to improve patient care outcomes & provider efficiencies
Dr. Benjamin Lebwohl received his MD from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2003, and then completed his internship, residency, and chief residency in internal medicine at Columbia. He stayed at Columbia as a fellow in Digestive and Liver Disease, during which time he obtained a Masters in Patient Oriented Research from the Department of Biostatistics at the Mailman School of Public Health. He joined the faculty of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University in 2010.
Dr. Philip Lanzkowsky is a retired pediatric hematologist-oncologist. Dr. Lanzkowsky was instrumental in the development, planning and establishment of Schneider Children’s Hospital (now the Cohen Children’s Medical Center) and served as its Chief-of-Staff from the inception of the hospital in 1984 until 2008. He is currently a consultant to Cohen and to Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Israel.
Dr. Adam Goldstein is a Professor and Director of Departmental Advancement at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Goldstein is the Director of Tobacco Intervention Programs (Nicotine Dependence Program and Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program) at the UNC School of Medicine. Dr. Goldstein has taught internationally on leadership development, substance abuse, health policy, cancer and clinical medicine in Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Argentina, Chile, Haiti and Israel.
Dr. Feinstein is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and its two supporting organizations, the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and Health Careers Futures Dr. Feinstein serves on a number of nonprofit and for-profit boards, including the Board of Directors of NRHI, the Center for Innovation Advisory Committee at the National Board of Medical Examiners, the Board of Overseers at Brandeis University’s Heller School, and as co-chair of the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative
Dr. Paul Appelbaum is the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law, and Director, Division of Law, Ethics and Psychiatry at Columbia. Dr. Appelbaum is Past President of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, and has twice served as Chair of the Council on Psychiatry and Law and of the Committee on Judicial Action for the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
