Ruth (Ruti) Stashefsky Margalit, MD

Visiting professor at the Hebrew University Hadassah Faculty of Medicine,
Faculty, Medical Education, Tufts school of medicine, Boston, MA
Email: Sta.margalit@gmail.com

Ruti was born in Detroit Michigan and grew up in Kibbutz Sasa, Galilee, Israel.  She received her medical doctorate from the Hebrew University, Hadassah School of Medicine,  Jerusalem, Israel. She moved to the USA in 1998. Board certified in Family Medicine, with training in  Pediatrics and Public Health fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and at  University of Maryland, department of Family Medicine, Behavioral Medicine, Ruti dedicated her  career to health promotion in the broader sense: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and  social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO). 

In 2003 Ruti moved to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, College of Public  Health and College of Medicine, where she became associate professor of public health, founded and  directed the “Inter-professional Service Learning Academy” with major projects with vulnerable  populations. She was also a founding physician for One World Community Health Centers in Omaha and has been involved in creating global health partnerships since 1989 in Africa and India. Since 2009,  she has worked with “Friends of Naivasha”, Kenya, developing a new hospital and developing simulation-based trainings and a ‘simulation on wheels’ initiative.

In 2014, upon her return to Israel, she served as the Director of Research at MSR simulation center and established the “Change a World” program at the Faculty of Medicine in Tel Aviv and then at the Ruth & Bruce Rappaport Faculty of  Medicine, Technion, Haifa where she founded the center for Global Engagement and developed the first  Student Run, inter-professional Community Health Center in Israel. Ruti volunteered with physicians for human rights, with the ‘Road to Recovery’ initiative, with the ‘Friendship Clinic’ (for Syrians civilians – telemedicine), and with refugee, Palestinian and underserved communities in Northern Israel.  

In 2018-2021, she served as the academic director for the Leadership in Public Administration program with the Mandel Foundation in Northern Israel. 

Ruti has dedicated her career to promote professional, cultural sensitive, compassionate care; to encourage inter-professional collaborations, work with underserved communities through mutual respect and inquiry, and enhance student awareness and skills for working in the spirit of social justice. She has been a peace activist since 1980. Ruti has used Appreciative Inquiry in numerous partnerships as a vehicle for positive change. 

She draws energy and wisdom and is grateful for family and friends, students and colleagues, nature, yoga, books, music and solitude.