Professor Gabi Barbash will be appointed the Coronavirus Czar (the Hebrew title is translated roughly as In charge of managing the coronavirus crisis), Kan 11 News reported Sunday. Barbash served as director of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and director general of the Health Ministry.
Barbash, who serves as a full professor of medical administration and Epidemiology at the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, received the offer from the Prime Minister’s Office to serve in the new post, and the parties are currently working on crossing the t’s and dotting the I’s of the agreement.
Barbash, 71, studied medicine at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and earned a master’s degree in medical administration from Harvard University. He served as deputy commander of the IDF Medical Corps. In 1986 he was appointed deputy CEO of Sheba Medical Center and in 1993 became director of Ichilov Medical Center.
Barabash was a Was a key figure in the events of the night of November 4, 1995, after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot and taken to Ichilov Hospital.
On June 25, 2015, Barabash retired from managing Ichilov and founded Consilium, a medical consultation outfit based at Ichilov.