Dr. Sivan Spitzer

Sivan Spitzer is an organizational sociologist and is the principal investigator of ‘HEAL’ – Health Equity Advancement Lab.

Her interests lie in the study of health inequities, and more specifically, in identifying, designing, and evaluating organizational strategies aimed at reducing health care inequities through the prism of organizational change and implementation science. Inequities in access and provision of care exist for many disadvantaged groups, including minorities, persons of low-socioeconomic status, the elderly and the disabled, in many countries as well as in Israel. Current research is lacking in terms of understanding the facilitators and barriers to implementation of organization-wide equity initiatives and how organizational mechanisms may help reduce inequities in care. The research that she has conducted to date aims to address these deficiencies in current knowledge.

Using implementation science and organizational change frameworks and theories, research projects carried out in HEAL focus on translating equity from value to action through complex organization-wide change efforts in both community and hospital settings in a wide range of health and healthcare topics including chronic disease management, integration of care and precision medicine.

Harnessing her sociological background, as head of population health education at the faculty Spitzer is also working to impact on traditional bio-medical thinking and medical education training through the continuous development of a new curriculum for medical students.