At the end of July 2023, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Jens Scholz, CEO of the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), and Prof. Dr. Ronni Gamzu, CEO of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for an extensive cooperation between the two hospitals.
Also present were the Minister for Digitalization and Head of the State Chancellery Schleswig-Holstein, Dirk Schrödter, Prof. Dr. Claudia Schmidtke, Spokesperson for the University Heart Center Lübeck (UHZL), and Carsten Ovens, CEO of ELNET in Germany. The goal is the mutual promotion of health care in Israel and Schleswig-Holstein. Central aspects of the new partnership are the establishment of a joint data platform, the initiation of research projects, the exchange of employees, and the transfer of know-how for digitization measures.
“Future innovations in healthcare depend on whether we can successfully establish cross-border collaborations between systems that complement each other. We are fortunate to have data collection and innovative artificial intelligence startups in Israel that can contribute to better solutions for medicine. Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center-Ichilov is proud to collaborate with one of the leading medical institutions in Germany to develop better medicine and research opportunities for the world,” said Prof. Gamzu.
“We are very pleased to have Prof. Gamzu as our guest and would like to thank Minister Schrödter for accompanying the visit. We are convinced that our cooperation agreement with the Medical Center in Tel Aviv will result in fruitful exchanges and promising projects that will enrich our two regions and further advance digitization and cutting-edge medicine,” said Prof. Scholz about the cooperation.
Carsten Ovens also praised the new partnership: “Data sharing is caring. This is especially true in healthcare: Here, data saves lives. Schleswig-Holstein has recognized this. We are therefore all the more pleased to be able to announce today the start of a new partnership between UKSH and Tel Aviv Medical Center, leading research hospitals in Germany and Israel, focused on digital innovations. The partnership will go beyond the German Israeli Health Forum for Artificial Intelligence (GIHF-AI) go beyond, setting an example for both countries.”
Already at the beginning of June, a first North German partnership between the Tel Aviv Medical Center (Ichilov) and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) was signed on the initiative of ELNET. During the delegation trip to Israel of President of the Bundesrat and Hamburg’s First Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher, Prof. Dr. Christian Gerloff, CEO of the UKE, and Prof. Dr. Ronni Gamzu signed the comprehensive agreement. In addition, the Tel Aviv Medical Center has an existing cooperation with the Berlin Charité.
