Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach
Photo credit: Anat Oren
First woman appointed as head of major Israeli medical center
Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, currently head of Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, is named new chief of Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center • Health Minister Yakov Litzman: An “excellent” choice • High Court rules that only doctors can serve as hospital directors.
Maytal Yasur Beit-Or/Israel Hayom
Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, a specialist in pediatrics and health administration, has been appointed director general of the Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center (the recently renamed former Assaf Harofeh Medical Center) in Tzrifin, near Rishon Lezion. Levtzion-Korach, who becomes the first woman to head a major medical center in Israel, succeeds Dr. Benny Davidson, who is retiring after 15 years at the helm.
Levtzion-Korach has served as the director of the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital since 2012. Prior to that, she was deputy director of Assaf Harofeh.
Although this is the first time a woman has been appointed head of a major medical center, two women have previously served as directors of smaller hospitals operated by the Clalit health fund, and both the Mizra Mental Health Center in Acre and the Shoham Medical Center for Geriatric Medicine in Pardes Hanna have female directors.
Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, a specialist in pediatrics and health administration, has been appointed director general of the Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center (the recently renamed former Assaf Harofeh Medical Center) in Tzrifin, near Rishon Lezion. Levtzion-Korach, who becomes the first woman to head a major medical center in Israel, succeeds Dr. Benny Davidson, who is retiring after 15 years at the helm.
Levtzion-Korach has served as the director of the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital since 2012. Prior to that, she was deputy director of Assaf Harofeh.
Although this is the first time a woman has been appointed head of a major medical center, two women have previously served as directors of smaller hospitals operated by the Clalit health fund, and both the Mizra Mental Health Center in Acre and the Shoham Medical Center for Geriatric Medicine in Pardes Hanna have female directors.
“I’m excited, and confident that with the wonderful, devoted hospital staff, we can achieve wonderful things and continue Dr. Benny Davidson’s excellent work,” Levtzion-Korach said. “I thank the staff of the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital for my wonderful time there and Professor [Ze’ev] Rothstein [head of Hadassah] for his faith and cooperation. I thank the health minister and the director general of the Health Ministry for their faith [in me].”
Health Minister Yakov Litzman said he welcomed the choice of Levtzion-Korach as the new director of the Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center.
“I wish her success in her important role. This is an excellent choice, given the vast experience, professionalism and devotion she has gained over the years,” Litzman said.
On Tuesday, the High Court of Justice ruled that another female candidate for the directorship of Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center, Iris Levinstein-Levi — currently head of the research fund at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon — is ineligible to head a hospital because she is not a doctor.
The ruling came despite the fact that the law permits a layperson to serve as the director of a hospital alongside a medical doctor, and the fact that none of the directors of Israel’s four health care providers — Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, and Leumit — are medical doctors. Neither the health minister nor the director general of the Health Ministry are doctors either.
