Hadassah Hospitals at the Forefront
Hadassah hospitals are leading the way in cutting-edge research and care, treating approximately one million patients a year. Whether forging new paths in the fight against cancer, creating groundbreaking protocols in pediatric care, building bridges to peace through medicine and global partnerships, or responding in real time to unfolding humanitarian crises, Hadassah hospitals’ doctors and researchers are finding new ways to save lives and bring hope and healing to families around the world.
Letter from the Director General, Hadassah Medical Organization
Dear Hadassah Family,
If you’d asked me on Rosh Hashanah what I would be writing for the 2023 Impact Report, I might have mentioned the Hadassah Medical Organization’s remarkable accomplishments in treating multiple myeloma, in signing with Roche Israel for personalized cancer treatment based on genomic profiling or breakthroughs using artificial intelligence. Never could I have imagined reporting on treating hundreds of war-wounded soldiers and civilians, preventing and treating PTSD in evacuated communities and massacre survivors, or applying Hadassah technologies in wartime to rebuild shattered limbs.
As helicopters landed with civilian and military casualties, beginning on October 7, we didn’t have to call up our doctors, nurses or technicians. Experienced in emergency situations, our dedicated staff rushed to treat the injured.
On October 7, we decided to expand underground hospital facilities beyond the underground operating theaters in the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. At Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus, within 14 days, we built a 120-bed emergency hospital in the underground parking lot of the yet-unopened Gandel Rehabilitation Center. Upstairs, we accelerated the completion of three floors to provide immediate rehabilitation for our wounded warriors.
We could do all this because we have the support of donors like you. Going forward, we know we can count on you to complete the Gandel Rehabilitation Center, complete the renovation of the iconic Round Building (today known as the Alberto and Vicki Saba Internal Medicine Complex) and other projects while continuing to battle the world’s most complicated diseases. In Jerusalem, we’re not the closest hospital to the front, but because we’re at the frontline of medicine, we can give the expert care that soldiers and civilians deserve. Thank you for enabling this sacred work.
With great appreciation,
Prof. Yoram Weiss
Director General, Hadassah Medical Organization
Hadassah’s Lifechanging Medicine
A “Jewish Nobel” for Humanitarian Crisis Response.
In January, Hadassah, the Hadassah Medical Organization and Hadassah International were among the Jewish activists and NGOs honored with the Genesis Prize for supporting the Ukrainian people in the wake of a profound humanitarian crisis. Hadassah hospitals quickly mobilized when war broke out, sending 15 medical delegations and vital equipment to the Ukraine/Poland border, working with the World Health Organization and more. The Genesis Prize is awarded annually to Jewish individuals and NGOs worldwide to honor accomplishment, impact on humanity and Jewish values.
To read more download the full Annual Report here
Dr. Polina Stepensky, “Disease Warrior”:
A Ukraine-born immigrant and the head of Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem’s Bone Marrow Transplant and Immunotherapy Department, Dr. Polina Stepensky was named one of 2023’s “50 Most Influential Jews” by The Jerusalem Post for her research on multiple myeloma, long considered incurable. She and her team found a way to treat the deadly blood cancer with CAR T-cell therapy, a genetic engineering technology that uses a patient’s immune cells to destroy the cancer. Almost 90 percent of the patients in her study improved, with US clinical trials for this innovative Hadassah immunotherapy slated to begin soon.
To read more download the full Annual Report here
Rare Surgery Saves Palestinian Boy’s Life After Internal Decapitation.
A 12-year-old Palestinian boy from the West Bank airlifted to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem’s Trauma Unit underwent successful surgery in early June to reattach his head to his neck after an internal decapitation in a bicycle accident. Dr. Ohad Einav, who led the extremely rare surgery, said the boy’s life was saved “thanks to our knowledge and the most innovative technology in the operating room.”
To read more download the full Annual Report here
Where Innovation Meets Compassion
Through partnerships, new protocols and lifechanging gifts, the Hadassah Medical Organization made a profound impact in 2023.
A Donor’s Legacy: Support for Promising Cancer Research
A transformative $3 million gift by Gerald “Jerry” Yass, z”l, of Boca Raton, FL, to the Hadassah Medical Organization will advance the groundbreaking cancer treatment research of Dr. Michal Lotem, head of the Center for Melanoma and Cancer Immunotherapy. The work leverages mRNA therapy to overcome what, until now, have been key barriers to successful anti-cancer immune responses. Dr. Lotem has had promising, sustained successes with patients using the therapy. “While messenger RNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the pandemic, they have yet to be successfully tested as cancer therapies,” she says, explaining why continuing the research is so critical.
Creating Disaster-Response Protocols for Pediatric Patients
As medics worked alongside rescue workers to pull the living from the rubble after the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, children and adults received comparable crisis care. Realizing that children have different needs, Dr. Saar Hashavya, head of Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem’s Pediatric Emergency Department, began working with Dr. Lea Sarna Cahan to create a pediatric disaster rescue model geared to helping children during mass casualty events. In April, the Hadassah Medical Organization hosted Israel’s first symposium on pediatric disaster management, with attendees representing the Israeli Health Ministry, Magen David Adom and other hospitals.
Roche and Hadassah: First-of-Its-Kind Partnership
The Hadassah Medical Organization became the first in Israel — and one of the first in the world — to offer precise, disease-targeted diagnosis and treatment at every stage of a patient’s illness using Roche’s unique diagnostic model, thanks to a 2023 Hadassah Medical Organization-Roche Israel agreement to provide personalized medical care to cancer patients in Israel. This integrated model, said Prof. Yoram Weiss, director general of the Hadassah Medical Organization, will “enable us to provide patients with the most advanced and innovative diagnostic tests for cancer.”
USAID Awards $1.2 million to the Hadassah Medical Organization
The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA) program awarded $1.2 million to the Hadassah Medical Organization in support of the Middle East Binational Psychotherapy School. The project’s goal is to build cross-border learning and cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian mental health professionals to enhance their skills in providing trauma-informed psychosocial care and improve the mental health of conflict-affected Israeli and Palestinian children and adolescents. MEPPA’s Partnership for Peace Fund helps build the foundation for peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Delivering Hope and Compassion
About 25,000 children each year are cared for in the 18-bed Pediatric Emergency Department at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, where staff use innovative protocols to minimize pain and anxiety. Surrounded by colorful curtains sporting zebras and owls, the children meet volunteers who play with them, medical clowns who make them laugh and build trust, and teachers who explain the procedures they will undergo and what it will feel like. The young patients are often given an Artik, the famous Israeli ice cream on a stick, after being operated on by some of Israel’s top pediatric experts.
Team Develops Cream to Treat Skin Toxicity
Dr. Sharon Merims of the Hadassah Medical Organization helped develop a cream that prevents damage to healthy skin cells caused by treatment for several types of cancer. Study results, published in Science Translational Medicine, show that the cream neutralizes damage to the skin but does not interfere with the treatment.
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with Hadassah hospitals
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