About the Yuri Shtern Holistic Center

Who are We? 

The Yuri Shtern Holistic Center is a non-profit organization providing holistic treatments to people dealing with cancer and their family members. 

The non-profit was founded in 2007 by the Shtern family, as well as friends and colleagues to commemorate the life of Dr. Yuri Shtern, who passed away from cancer.

Yuri Shtern was one of the leaders of the Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union. In his life he promoted many goals in Israeli society. Yuri fought a brave battle against cancer, and passed away on January 2007, at the age of 57.

The Center operates according to a unique model created by Lena Shtern, Yuri’s widow, and the center’s founder. The initiative to establish the center was the result of Lena’s painful personal and professional experience which she collected during Yuri’s treatments, and as she supported and accompanied him throughout.

The Center’s operating model is the first and only of its kind, in that it incorporates professional volunteers in the field of alternative medicine that is complemented by constant support and guidance by the center’s caregivers. The support and guidance are done through a unique and dedicated program, designed to train professional caregivers that can volunteers in the center.

 The Holistic Center provides over 15,000 complementary medical treatments annually, to thousands of oncological and cancer patients and their families, which are given by a team of 170 certified caregivers, all of whom are volunteers. The treatments are given without cost at the Children’s Hospital Oncological Center in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, in complete cooperation with the medical team, Prof. Natan Charny and Prof. Nir Peled, the director of the Oncological Center. The Holistic Center also operates two community clinics in Jerusalem and Herzliya, in which an array of alternative medical treatments is provided: various touch-based treatments, Japanese and Chinese community acupuncture, body-mind treatments and rehabilitation.

 The Yuri Shtern Holistic center’s activity allows patients to receive alternative medical treatments, support and accompaniment in the periods between treatments, in the recovery and return to work period, or during the last stages of life. In all of these, our guiding principle is: “we are all one human tissue.”

The center's work is recognized and funded by the Ministry of Health, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem  and Herzliya Municipalities. Its activities have earned it several awards, including the 'President's Award' given to the center's founder, Ms. Lena Stern, in 2023, the 'Minister of Health's Shield for Outstanding Volunteers and Organizations Operating in the Health System' (2018), and the 'Israel Society for Complementary Medicine Award' (2020). The center's activities are supported by numerous funders and donors, including the Abraham and Sonia Rochlin Foundation,The Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal, Reality Fund, JDC Israel, BMS Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Asor Fund, and many other contributors.