Philanthropist Larry Field Recognized at BGU for $2 Million Medical Simulation Center Pledge
Philanthropist Larry Field Recognized at BGU for $2 Million Medical Simulation Center Pledge
January 18, 2012
Medical Research, Press Releases
Beer-Sheva, Israel, Monday, April 2, 2012 – The family foundation of real estate developer and philanthropist Lawrence N. Field pledged $2 million to support and name the Field Family Foundation Medical Simulation Center at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beer-Sheva, Israel. This pledge was recognized in a ceremony today on the Marcus Family Campus.
The first facility of its kind in Israel, the Field Family Foundation Medical Simulation Center will use electronic mannequins that exhibit lifelike behavior to simulate illness or injury. The advanced technology will enable doctors, faculty and medical students to gain highly realistic experience working with medical emergencies, while instructors monitor their performance in real time and evaluate their progress.
Once the Center is built, “we will not graduate any students without their having experience in the simulator so we make sure that they fulfill the dictum ‘Do No Harm’,” BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, M.D. said at the recognition ceremony.
She said it would be the first simulation center created as part of a medical school in Israel. “Other medical schools are thinking about doing it and we are doing it.” Carmi added that it would also be used for retraining and updating physicians, and its services would be extended to the IDF units that are moving to the South in the next five years.
“Like every family, we have experienced frightening medical emergencies and illnesses, and in these difficult times we were deeply grateful for the care we received from compassionate, highly trained physicians,” said Mr. Field.
“It gives us great pleasure to help BGU expand its role as a center of excellence in providing state-of-the-art training to skilled medical professionals who will provide that kind of care to patients in Israel and many other nations,” he said.
The Center can simulate many health issues and scenarios, using a variety of technologies including:
• SimMan 3G, which gives students lifelike CPR feedback and can simulate convulsions, bleeding, wounds and chest decompression
• A birth simulator which can be programmed to simulate the entire birth process, as well as a breach birth or emergency delivery
• Advanced Lifesaving Simulator, an interactive training mannequin that can realistically simulate a wide range of medical emergencies requiring advanced lifesaving skills
Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. Gabi Schreiber said that the Center would “enable us to improve medical training, and teach preparedness and professionalism.”
Last year, the New York-based Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation contributed the initial seed money to initiate the Center, which is modeled on a facility at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System where Lloyd Goldman, Americans for Ben-Gurion University’s first vice president, serves on the executive board.
“If BGU’s mission at the medical school is to train world-class physicians and improve health care of the Negev at same time, it’s an important part of education,” says Goldman, whose family has been significant supporters of the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School at Ben-Gurion University.
Mr. Field has been a leading real estate developer for more than three decades, both in New York City and Southern California. He is the founder and principal of NSB Associates, and has been involved in the acquisition and development of more than $1 billion of real estate in Southern California.
Active in philanthropy, education and civic affairs, he has been a major supporter of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for almost 30 years. At his alma mater, Baruch College, he founded the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship, which has played a crucial role in establishing the Baruch College Zicklin School of Business as a leading business school. He is a member of the executive committee of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and was recently named to the board of directors of The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, which educates youngsters from low-income communities about how to run a business.
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY
By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.
We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.
BGU at a glance:
20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.
For all press inquiries, please contact:
James Fattal, J Cubed Communications
516.289.1496
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