JERUSALEM (JTA) — Dr. Ehud Kokia, a physician and health-care executive for nearly four decades, is the new director general of Israel’s Hadassah Medical Organization.
Kokia, 61, was named Monday. The Hadassah Medical Organization includes Hadassah University Hospital Ein Kerem and Hadassah University Hospital Mount Scopus. He previously served as CEO of one of Israel’s health care funds, Maccabi Healthcare Services. He has worked for the past 37 years as a physician and health-care executive.
Kokia succeeds Shlomo Mor-Yosef, who served in the post for 11 years. Mor-Yosef resigned in January 2010 amid speculation that he was forced out. He then agreed to a two-year extension of his contract while the organization searched for a successor.
"I feel the weight of shouldering the historic responsibility for leading Hadassah Medical Organization with its trail-blazing standards," Kokia said. "I want to help Hadassah continue on the trajectory of growth set forth by my friend and colleague Professor Shlomo Mor-Yosef."
Yossi Rosen, chair of the Hadassah Medical Organization’s board of directors, called Kokia "a dedicated and gifted physician," as well as a "medical executive who we believe is the best person to lead Hadassah Medical Organization into the next decade of providing health care for the people of Israel and the world."
