Joint research fund for HIT and Clalit Health Services.

HIT-Holon Institute of Technology and Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest Health organization, announced a joint research fund that will promote, for the first time, the development of clinical devices in digital medicine and bio-convergence. 

From right: Dr. Orly Weinstein, Mr. Eli Cohen. Prof. Eduard Yakubov, Mr. Pini Cohen, Dr. Refael Barkan, Mr. Samuel Goldberg. Photo: Doron Masarano

The signing ceremony took place on Wednesday, June 28th, at a special event on the HIT campus with the participation of HIT’s and Clalit’s top leadership and dozens of members from their respective senior management.

The Chairman of HIT’s Board of Trustees, Mr. Pini Cohen, expressed his delight at the collaboration between both organizations, especially as he is also the Chairman of the Friends of the Rabin Medical Center, a major Clalit hospital.

” The Institute, a leading and dynamic academic entity, is proud to embark on a new path with the oldest and largest health organization in Israel," said Prof. Eduard Yakubov. He thanked Dr. Refael Barkan for this initiative and expressed his wishes for additional research programs that advance the State of in hi-tech, technology, and medicine.

The new research fund will distribute grants amounting to a total of NIS 500,000 in joint funding by Clalit and HIT for applied multidisciplinary collaborative research projects in diverse fields such as Engineering, Sciences, Design, Instructional Technologies, Technology Management, Digital Medicine, and more. The partnership will draw on the talents of academics and researchers from both institutions.

The collaboration is unique on the academic and medical landscape, as until now, most joint programs focused on limited areas and not multi-arena, multidisciplinary, and applied perspectives. The new joint fund will showcase the respective strengths of both institutions -- HIT, an advanced technological academy that maintains strong ties with industry, and Clalit, with its 14 hospitals and hundreds of community clinics scattered throughout Israel.
During the festive ceremony, 3 joint research projects were presented.

” The medical world and the healthcare system are on the brink of a revolution which will completely change the way in which medical diagnosis and treatment is provided”, stated Dr. Refael Barkan, Vice-President for Innovation, Research, and Internationalization at HIT. The joint research fund that we are establishing with Clalit today will be the creative engine that will completely transform the Israeli healthcare system. I thank my colleagues at Clalit for the long and fruitful partnership which led us to today’s special event and wish us great success in this significantly expanded partnership.”

The decision to establish this joint fund was catalyzed by the widespread influence of AI in many industries, including the health and medical systems. Accordingly, Clalit Health Services and HIT will focus on AI-driven research and development.
“When Dr. Orly Weinstein informed me of this promising development, I endorsed it immediately. HIT is an important and path blazing academic institution, and the combination between the clinical and technological worlds will contribute to everybody's well-being," said Eli Cohen, CEO of Clalit Health Services.

HIT and Clalit Health Services can already boast of their positive track record of collaboration over the years. Some 20 research projects in various fields of medicine are currently at different stages of implementation. The most prominent are presently in the commercialization stages, and some have received grants from the Israel Innovation Authority.

One important example is Clalit’s leading role in HIT’s unique academic program in Digital Medical Technologies. As part of the one-of-a-kind B.Sc program, students are exposed to clinical challenges based on medical information from Clalit's clinical environments. Doctors and clinicians from Clalit teach in the program and train the next generations of future doctors and medical analysts.

The joint research fund was brought to fruition through the dedicated efforts om the part of HIT VP, Dr. Refael Barkan; VP and Head of the General Hospitals Division, Dr. Orly Weinstein, Deputy Director and Head of the Hospitals Division, Clalit Health Services and Dr. Ziv Paz, Head of the Technology Division in Clalit Health Services.