Prof. Yoram Weiss has been appointed as acting Hadassah-University Medical Center director-general, replacing Prof. Zeev Rotstein.
Weiss told The Jerusalem Post that his new role takes effect immediately.
Rotstein stepped down earlier this month after the Hadassah Board of Directors unanimously decided to summon him for a hearing in order to consider terminating his employment with the hospital.
In a letter sent to the staff members of Hadassah obtained by the Post, Rotstein described his five-and-half years as “a period I won’t forget.”
He said, “we faced difficult challenges togethers… but beyond the challenges we had, and still have, it is known at least to us that we promoted Hadassah in all respects.”
And he called the staff his “second family.”
Rotstein came to Hadassah in 2016 after working for 36 years at Sheba Medical Center, starting as a young cardiologist and working his way up to director of what would a few years later be chosen as one of the top hospitals in the world.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Rotstein was seen as a sort of rebel against the state, publicly going against the recommendations and regulations rolled out by the Health Ministry.
But he also stood at the forefront of the fight for hospital funding, specifically in the aftermath of the pandemic, when many hospitals lost income due to lack of activity but were also spending more money treating sick COVID-19 patients.
Rotstein refused to comment for this article.
Weiss has been serving as the director of the Ein Kerem campus. He previously held the position of chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and director of the Center for Surgical Critical Care Medicine.
The new director-general earned his MD degree from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and did some of his specialty training abroad at the University of Pennsylvania.
Weiss has also held several national roles, such as head of the committee on the strategic evaluation of operating room management in Israeli hospitals and head of cybersecurity regulation and guidelines for the Israeli Healthcare System. He is currently a member of the Quality Assurance and Oversight Committee on the Israeli response to COVID-19.
“Hadassah’s contribution in the past year during the war against the coronavirus and other historical events will be remembered forever, as well as Hadassah’s importance to the character of the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and its service to all populations in the city – members of all religions alike,” Weiss wrote in a letter sent to Hadassah staff Monday morning.
“We have many more challenges ahead of us in the coming years, and we are all committed to further developing and expanding the medical services that the hospital provides,” he said. “As acting director-general of the medical center, I am at your disposal at any time for ideas and comments for improving and correcting deficiencies.
“As a doctor who grew up in the medical center and spent most of his professional life here, I see a great right and duty to help lead Hadassah to a better place.”
Weiss will fill the role temporarily while a search committee works on behalf of the hospital board to find a permanent replacement, though he is considered to be among the leading candidates.