Hebrew University to Overhaul Medical School with $90 Million Initiative

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is planning a major overhaul of its medical school curriculum, aiming to double the number of students in the faculty. The new initiative is made possible in part by a donation from Steve Lavin, an American-Jewish industrialist, philanthropist, and the chairman and controlling shareholder of OSI Group, one of the world's leading meat producers and a major supplier to McDonald's.

The donation is earmarked for the establishment of an advanced medical education center focused on training physicians using digital tools. The entire project is valued at $90 million over a 10-year period, with roughly half coming from university sources and the other half from donations, primarily from Lavin and philanthropic figures in his hometown of Chicago, whom he plans to help the university recruit. The project is part of a broader $250 million initiative to empower the university's faculty of medicine, which includes additional initiatives in teaching and research.

Identifying the Training Bottleneck

According to Prof. Eli Pikarsky, dean of the faculty of medicine at the university, "All over the world, medical personnel are in short supply, especially doctors themselves. We need to train more doctors, and train them better. Sometimes a person goes to an outstanding doctor and says, 'I would love to be treated by this doctor all my life, because he explains with empathy, clarity, and also listens to me.' Our goal is for all our doctors to be like that."

From Pikarsky's perspective, the primary bottleneck is a shortage of mentors. "We are lucky," he says. "We have good, enthusiastic students, but they need training from older and more experienced doctors, and you cannot shut down hospital operations."

The shortage of doctors in Israel is particularly threatening for several reasons. The Yatziv reform, which restricted foreign academic institutions whose degrees are recognized in Israel, reduced the number of new doctors entering the system each year by several hundred. In addition, a large wave of retirements is expected in the coming years among doctors who immigrated from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. Meanwhile, over the past three years alone, 1,300 doctors have left Israel, including experienced physicians who were supposed to be the backbone of training new doctors.

Key Components of the Advanced Medical Education Center

• AI Monitoring System: Regular tracking of student training quality and knowledge.

• Personalized Mentoring: Streamlining mentorship by tailoring it to student weaknesses and strengths.

• Online and Physical Simulations: Aimed at improving doctor-patient communication and bedside manner.

Pikarsky's plan is to introduce a monitoring system into the undergraduate medical curriculum that continuously assesses students' knowledge levels. The pilot program is set to launch in January within the pediatrics departments.

"Through technology, we want to enable the student to better understand what is expected of them and where they stand relative to the desired level. This is a monitoring system that will measure them not in comparison to others, but in comparison to themselves, because this is not a profession where we want to encourage competition, but rather teamwork. Measurement means it is impossible for someone to miss the material and fly under the radar," Pikarsky explained.

Philanthropy and Vision for the Future

Lavin began investing in philanthropy several years ago. In Israel, he has invested in the Adi Negev-Nahalat Eran rehabilitation center as well as Sheba Medical Center. Discussing his motivation, Lavin noted that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted severe shortages in medical personnel, driving him to support the Hebrew University.

"I think a lot today about tikkun olam through philanthropy, business, and the combination of the two. I invest in the Israeli economy, in security, in housing, and of course in food, but what stands above everything is medicine, because if we are not healthy we cannot enjoy life, and then why even be here. And let us add to that the fact that too many talented people are leaving Israel, and I would like to bring them home," Lavin stated.