The center will focus on developing and implementing medical technology solutions using AI, in collaboration with doctors, researchers, and startups ● It will be managed by Dr. Ayelet Akselrod-Ballin, who was a senior R&D manager at Mobileye and IBM

Artificial intelligence has had a huge impact on the healthcare sector in recent years, with various developments that help treat patients and patients. This field includes a lot of innovation and startups operating in it, which Sheba Hospital wants to improve cooperation with. Therefore, the hospital management decided to open a center that will focus on artificial intelligence in the field of medicine.

Dr. Ayelet Akselrod-Ballin, PhD, was appointed as the director of the center and its chief technology officer.

The new center will focus on the development and implementation of medical technology solutions using artificial intelligence, in collaboration with physicians, researchers, companies, and startups. It will be part of Sheba’s innovation arm, ARC, which initiates and operates the development of innovative solutions in the areas of early detection, identification and diagnosis of diseases and medical conditions, medical decision-making, and the patient experience.

Dr. Ayelet Akselrod-Ballin brings a strong vision to the AI center, with her wealth of experience of over 20 years, in a variety of management and technological development roles in the fields of artificial intelligence, deep learning, and image processing. During her career, she served as a senior manager in research and development at global companies, including Mobileye, IBM’s research arm, and Zebra Medical Vision. She led large teams of researchers and engineers in these companies to develop advanced technologies. In addition, Dr. Axelrod lectured at Reichman University and promoted innovation projects in the fields of artificial intelligence in medicine. She holds a PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science and a postdoctoral degree from Harvard, with specializations in mathematics, computer science, and medical image processing.

Prof. Eyal Zimlichman, VP of Transformation and Innovation and Director of ARC, said that “The Artificial Intelligence Center is being established as part of our desire to transform Sheba Medical Center into an AI-based hospital. The center will work to integrate advanced artificial intelligence systems at all stages of the medical care chain – from earlier and more accurate diagnosis, to reducing the burden on medical staff through AI and improving clinical decision-making processes.”

“With the help of close collaboration with doctors, researchers, startups,and entrepreneurs, the center will serve as a platform for developing technological solutions that will impact the healthcare system in Israel and abroad,” noted Prof. Zimlichman. The new center is not the only artificial intelligence activity at Sheba Hospital: last March, it launched an AI-based emergency room.