Hinenu background
The Hinenu Foundation was established to harness the tremendous spirit of volunteerism by thousands of health professionals at the onset of the current war in Israel and to develop and maintain long term relationships between foreign medical volunteers and Israeli health institutions.
Hinenu in Hebrew means “We are Here”, which is based on the biblical term used by our forefathers to indicate that they were present without question when G-d called out to them. Likewise, in our present day, when Israel is struggling after the horrific attack of October 7th and the war has disrupted everyday life in Israel, medical professionals have answered unequivocally “Hinenu” to their brethren in Israel.
Even before the war, Israel has struggled for years with clinical staffing shortages, with more acute physician shortages in specific specialties and in the periphery.
As a result of Hinenu’s involvement with foreign physician volunteering in Israel during the war, Hinenu has identified that the volunteer acclimation/orientation process is often a barrier leading to an underutilization of these physician resources. Consequently, Hinenu is developing a program to assist healthcare institutions acclimate short-term foreign physician volunteers to their facility/departments. The program will include providing customized orientation materials and logistical support for incoming volunteers. This will foster a more efficient use of the volunteer physician’s time, while reducing the burden on institutional staff resources required for onboarding processes.
We believe facilitating these short-term volunteer assignments will lead to the development of long-term relationships and recurrent collaborations between institution departments and their physician volunteers. This will in turn will strengthen the Israeli health care system and Israel as a whole.
Meet the Team
Executive Director, Co-Founder
Eliana Aaron
Eliana Aaron is a health policy expert, clinician, and innovator. She is the director of EMA Care, a private medical management company, and has worked in both the Israeli and American academic and health care systems. Eliana has a doctorate from Yale University in Health Policy, Leadership, and Management which focused on gaps in the Israeli health system. She is a family nurse practitioner with 25 years of clinical experience, including as medical officer for the US Embassy (then Consulate) in Jerusalem.
Co-Founder
Yigal Marcus
Yigal Marcus is a Principal at AllianceBernstein LP, with 25+ years’ experience in wealth management, business development, start-ups, and non-profit organization leadership. Yigal has experience with fundraising, non-profit boards of directors in the USA and Israel, NGOs, and working with government bodies.
Board member, General Counsel
Michael Rebibo
Michael Rebibo is a corporate lawyer with 30+ years of experience. Michael is experienced in business development, fundraising, legal guidance for startups, networking in various professional circles in Israel & the USA.
Board member
Dovid Schild
David Schild was the founder and president of Marketing Dynamics, a marketing and consulting firm specializing in the Health Care Industry. Marketing Dynamic's utilized innovative, educational based marketing initiatives to promote community health care services. Throughout his 40+ years career, David served on the boards of many non-profit organizations.
Board member
Jonathan Marcus
Jonathan Marcus is a board-certified pulmonary critical care physician. He is the former chief medical officer of ICC healthcare, the critical care division of HCA (Hospital Corperation of America) and is the current president and chief medical officer of the Optimum healthcare group. He is consulted in over 190 hospitals in the United States in the management development of critical care and hospitalist programs. Jonathan is an expert in protocol developments, complex team management, information technology, and telemedicine.
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