Faculty News

On July 1, 2024, the first conference of its kind in the north on sex and gender aware medicine was held at the Bar-Ilan U. Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in Safed, with an emphasis on the periphery.

The organizers of the conference - Dr. Rola Khamisy Farah, coordinator of the Sex and Gender Aware Medicine course at the Faculty of Medicine, and Dr. Michal Sela and Dr. Ronal Bernstein the founders and chairpersons of the NogaFem Center – worked together in the organization of the conference and its successful implementation at the Faculty of Medicine in Safed.

The conference was attended by more than 140 doctors, and other medical professions including nurses, pharmacists, attorneys, researchers, and more. The response was very impressive, despite the difficult and challenging security situation in the north in general and Safed in particular.

Professor Orly Avni, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, gave a welcome speech and emphasized the importance of the subject and the Faculty's commitment to educate students to be actively aware of these differences and adopt a sex- and gender-aware lens in research and clinical work in the future.

Professor Glazerman, "the father of gender medicine," founder and current chairman of the Israeli Society for Sex and Gender Aware Medicine, delivered congratulations and gave a fascinating lecture on "Why medicine should be sex and gender aware."

Professor Dror Dicker, director of the Internal Medicine Department (D) of the Sharon Hospital, gave an amazing lecture on sex and gender in obesity diseases.

Dr. Avital Porter, Director of the Women's Heart Clinic at Sharon Hospital, gave a lecture on aspects of sex and gender in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases

Professor Naim Shehadeh, Director of the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE, spoke about treating obesity and diabetes in the Arab sector and the differences between the sexes.

Dr. Fiad Adoi, Director of the Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, offered his insights on diabetes and gender issues.

Dr. Keren Agay Shay, head of Health and Environmental research at the Faculty of Medicine, gave a fascinating lecture on gender differences in causal risks.

Congratulations to Dr. Shai Bel upon receipt of a grant from the European Union. An innovative treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases will now proceed to the pre-clinical stage.

150,000 Euros (approx. 600,000 NIS) will be awarded to a researcher who succeeds in developing an innovative therapeutic approach for those suffering from Crohn's disease and Colitis.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn's and Colitis, are chronic diseases that affect 1% of the population in the developed world. The current treatments weaken the immune system, which can have potentially serious consequences such as infection and the development of cancer. In addition, over 50% of patients do not respond to any existing treatments.

Two years ago, thanks to a preliminary ERC grant, Dr. Bel and his team discovered a possible new approach to treating these diseases. The method they developed encourages the intestine to produce mucus that protects the tissue from bacteria and helps to heal the intestine.

Now, with the support of an ERC Proof of Concept grant, this innovative approach can be tested in preclinical models, determining the potential to treat clinical patients.

You worked hard for the title "PhD" - and we are proud of you. We beamed along with you at last night's graduation ceremony at the main Bar-Ilan campus in Ramat Gan.

Mazal tov!

Mazal tov to 75 women and 59 men who worked very hard to qualify for their MD degrees, which were conferred last night at the Yigal Alon Auditorium in Safed, home to the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine.

This represents the 8th graduating class of the four-year track and the 9th graduating class of the three-year track.

A few pictures can be seen here.

Congratulations to Dr. Sivan Spitzer and to Dr. Elite Arnon Sheleg of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine upon receipt of this year's Bar-Ilan University Outstanding Instructor Award.

Ceremony was held at the main Ramat Gan campus on July 1, 2024.

Full BIU article (in Hebrew) can be found here.

Warmest congratulations are extended to recipients of this year's Rector’s Prize for Outstanding Students.

• Hanan Zbedat, of Prof. Itay Onn's lab (to the right)
• Lynn Khoon of Dr. Ron Piran's lab (to the left)

A ceremony was held at the BIU Ramat Gan campus on June 24, 2024.

The 24th Nahariya Conference on Medicine and the Holocaust, in memory of Prof. Shaul Shasha, took place on June 5, 2024 at the Galilee Medical Center. The yearly conference is a joint collaboration between the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum, and the Western Galilee College.

This year's conference focused on three areas:

• The Nahariya Conference on Medicine and the Holocaust
• Teachers' Course on Medicine and Holocaust Education
• Conference to mark the launch of the Task Force Report on Medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust

Dr. Hadas Shasha Lavsky, of the organizers, adds: "For the three days of this conference, the BIU Faculty of Medicine stood out in leadership. The Galilee is where the conferences on medicine and the Holocaust began, from where the Galilee Declaration came out in 2017 calling for the teaching of medicine and the Holocaust in all medical faculties in the world, and where there have been four partners on the subject for many years - the Galilee Medical Center, the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Western Galilee College, and the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum. We wish to continue to lead this field in Israel, to attract researchers and lecturers working in the field and to be a role model for the other faculties. The establishment of a research center on medicine and the Holocaust within an ethics research center constitutes another layer of activity in the field in our faculty.

"I would like to thank Prof. Orly Avni, Dean of the Faculty, for her active participation. Generally, deans come to conferences to deliver a greeting at the beginning of the conference and to express their participation in the first minutes of the conference. Dean Avni did not do that; Prof. Avni was available for two full days and was actively present at the conferences when she chaired a session at the Medicine and Holocaust conference in Nahariya and participated in the panel at the conference launching the report at the Western Galilee College. This active presence contributed greatly to the conference, both in terms of content and in expressing support and commitment to the assimilation of medical and Holocaust studies in the Faculty of Medicine. "

Specific details can be seen on the Hebrew site.

Following our previous article on the FLIP initiative, Dr. Ferass Abu Hanna, a pediatrician specializing in pediatric gastroenterology, and director of FLIP (French Hospital Leadership and Innovation Program) program, has updated us that the final meeting of this cohort of FLIP - a training program for entrepreneurship and innovation -  took place last week. The French Hospital in Nazareth is an Azrieli Faculty of Medicine affiliate.

Present at the closing session were the Dean, Prof. Orly Avni, as well as Prof. Nael Elias, director of the French hospital, and Dr. Ferass Abu Hanna.

This exclusive program was developed to encourage medical teams from different disciplines to engage in medical innovations by providing theoretical training and practical tools that can be used by any entrepreneur who would like to choose this route. The training is delivered by SIT, an international company for training and building training programs for entrepreneurship.

The program is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Innovation Authority and is carried out in cooperation with Northmed, Takwin VC, and the AlphaOmega company.

Students from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine are encouraged to apply for the next program cohort.

Azrieli Faculty of Medicine MSc graduate degree in Medical Sciences graduation ceremony was held on May 29, 2024 at the Safed campus.

Congratulations, and the best of success in the future, to:

• נורה אבו רומי, בהצטיינות.  בהנחיית: דר' רון פירן
• מנאר אלחטיב, בהצטיינות. בהנחיית: פרופ' מיטל גל תנעמי
• הננא שעלאן דעבוס, בהצטיינות. בהנחיית פרופ' אבי פרץ
• רים סכס, בהצטיינות. בהנחיית פרופ' ז'אן סוסטיאל 
• סאוסן אבו גאלי. בהנחיית דר' יעקב ממן
• מאיה ברכאת. בהנחיית פרופ' משה דסאו
• איה עואד. בהנחיית דר' שי בל
• סוהא זגאירי. בהנחיית פרופ' עמרי קורן
• אראם שעבאן. בהנחיית פרופ' מיכאל בלנק
• ראניה ספא. בהנחיית דר' רונית אילוז
• עליסה כהן. בהנחיית פרופ' עמרי קורן
• תינה חון. בהנחיית פרופ' עמרי קורן ודר' איילת שי
• פתאן הבראת זועבי. בהנחיית דר' ניר קוויט
• הלנה שומאף. בהנחיית דר' ניר קוויט

A few pictures can be seen here.

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine was honored to host delegates from American, Canadian, and British Friends of Bar-Ilan University. Accompanied by Alona Gringauz, Director North America and UK Desks, BIU Global Resource Development, the group met with the Dean, Prof. Orly Avni; Prof. Omry Koren, a well-known microbiome scholar; Prof. Itay Onn, who invited the group to see the Scientific Equipment Center; Prof. Naim Shehadeh, Director, The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE;medical students; and experienced the Anatomage Virtual Anatomy Teaching Table.

The visit to Safed, which took place on May 28, 2024, just before the opening of the annual BIU Board of Trustees meetings, included:

• Steven Rosenberg, Board member, AFBIU
• Jessica Feldan, CEO, AFBIU
• Beth Gorin, Director, Northeast Region, AFBIU
• Randy Spiegel, CEO, Canadian Friends of BIU
• Max Dunbar, CEO, BFBIU

Randy Spiegel, CEO CFBIU, shared his warm thoughts with us: "The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine is a jewel that sparkles in the North. Every student researcher, teacher, and staffer exudes a passionate belief in the future that is contagious. I am proud that Naomi Azrieli and the foundation partnered with the State of Israel to breathe new life into the North and to know that the next generation of doctors will be building community through their work."

We look forward to seeing you again, soon!

Congratulations again to Dr. Shai Bel, upon receipt of the Rector's Prize for Scientific Innovation (the prize was awarded to 12 researchers for their groundbreaking research in the fields of science, society and culture) - for the discovery of the control system that controls the amount of mucus secreted in the intestine. The digestive system is exposed to bacteria and viruses from the environment and food. In order to protect against the intrusion of pests, the body secretes mucus which acts as a buffer between the body's tissues and the outside world, which allows the passage of substances (oxygen and food), but not the passage of harmful factors. Too little secretion of mucus exposes the body to infections, and too much secretion causes diseases, such as asthma. In his research, Dr. Bel discovered how to control this system in a targeted way that protects against intestinal diseases. Manipulation of this system can lead to a cure for inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's and Colitis) and respiratory diseases.

A ceremony took place at the Bar-Ilan Ramat Gan campus on May 20, 2024.

A short video describing Dr. Bel's exciting research can be viewed here.

The Medical Cadet 2024 graduation ceremony took place at the Faculty with the participation of excited students and families. The program is a joint program of the Ministry of Education's Kedem Atidim and the Galilium East Galilee Eshkol Galil partnership. As part of the program, the students write a thesis in the field of medicine for which they receive 5 bagrut matriculation credits. The students carry out research together with an academic researcher-advisor, take courses in the field of medicine, and in general, are exposed to the worlds of medicine and academic writing.

Tomorrow is Yom Hazikaron but the Student Union ceremony took place today. In addition to speakers, a song in memory of a victim of October 7, Haim Benaim, was performed.

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine Student Union commemorated Yom HaShoah (Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah) on May 6, 2024.

After convening in the Carasso Auditorium, MD students Raz Croitoru and Elizabeth Shohat, moderated the gathering.

Elizabeth: "As part of my responsibilities leading the student union, I was called upon to plan the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony this year.... This year the topic is particularly sensitive and raises more challenging feelings than in the past. I had a very hard time finding an appropriate topic, and I turned to Dr. Hadas Shasha-Lavsky who suggested we discuss rebirth. I immediately accepted this idea.... I was looking for a small ray of light in all the darkness that has surrounded us  recently. I  also realized that this is the message that I want to convey in the ceremony, a message of hope, of the ability to stand up and choose life. While reading up about Holocaust survivors in general, and the role of doctors in the process of revival and rehabilitation in particular, I discovered a world of real heroes. The doctors who themselves were survivors and suffered serious emotional and physical injuries, found within themselves the strength to help others. Many came to Israel and  were instrumental in establishing the medical system in Israel. Along with the horrors of the Holocaust, hope arose in my heart for a better future. I believe that we have the opportunity and the power to heal and to restore ourselves and those around us."

During the presentation, the audience had the opportunity to learn about the doctors Dr. Leopold Kohlberg, partisan doctors who immigrated to Israel after the war (at the end of 1952 the surviving doctors were about a third of Israel's doctors), Dr. Noah Kaplinsky, Prof. Moshe Prives, Dr. Mordechai Lansky, Dr. Viola and Gabriel Torek. There were also musical interludes.

After the reading of the Yizkor for Doctors by Dr. Mark Dvorzhecki, a candle was lit in memory of the doctors who perished in the Holocaust, and in memory of the doctors who were part of the process of restoration, revival and the establishment of the State of Israel.

A modest Faculty toast was held in honor of the Passover holiday. The Dean Prof. Orly Avni, Administrative Head Noam David Reshelbach, and MD/PhD student Ateret Gordon (Dr. Shai Bel's lab) offered a few words.