The Ombuds Blog: UVA Health Names Inaugural Ombuds

January 07, 2026

UVA Health Names Inaugural Ombuds

Henry Yampolsky has been selected as the first Ombuds for the University of Virginia Health System. Next week, Yampolsky joins University Ombuds, Amanda Monaco, and will provide services to about 13,000 faculty, staff, residents, postdocs, and students in the schools of medicine and nursing in Charlottesville and locations across the state. In addition, he is also also expected to be the primary facilitator and trainer for the UVA University Ombuds Office.

Yampolsky brings two decades of legal, ADR, and higher education experience to the role. Fort he past six years, he has been the Assistant Director for Education, Outreach, and Conflict Resolution at Virginia Tech. He graduated from the University of Scranton and earned a JD at Temple University. He was a speaker at IOA's annual conference in 2025. (UVA SOM News; LinkedIn.)

1 comment:

Reese Ramos1/08/2026 5:46 PM
Congratulations Henry! You'll be missed by colleagues at Virginia Tech but I'm glad to see UVA Health support this function!
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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany/Austria -- Ombudspersonen and Ombudsleute

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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