Faculty News

A moment of pride, yet again: Prof. Omry Koren has been selected to the Clarivate for Academia & Government list "Most Frequently Cited Researchers" in the world - for the seventh year in a row!

Prof. Omry Koren, head of the Microbiome Research Laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, is one of the most cited researchers in the world, an extraordinary achievement that places him at the forefront of global science - for the seventh year in a row.

The selection of the prestigious list includes researchers whose scientific articles are ranked in the top 1% in terms of the number of citations in their field and their year of publication, according to the international database Web of Science™. This figure reflects a huge and wide influence in the international scientific community. Only 1 out of 1,000 researchers worldwide qualify for this list, which makes Prof. Koren's achievement even more impressive. The selection is based not only on citation data, but also on qualitative assessment and broad recognition of the scientific community.

The Faculty of Medicine is strengthening its commitment to professional growth and personal development for graduate students through initiatives that bridge the gap between technical training and professional success. This semester marks the launch of two major initiatives aimed at providing students with essential tools for a successful academic and scientific career.

A new course, "Professional Skills: How to Navigate and Thrive in Academia," led by Dr. Liron Rozenkrantz, focuses on the "soft skills" needed for success in academia—skills that are often not formally taught. Drawing from her experience with similar courses at MIT and the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dr. Rozenkrantz creates a supportive and welcoming environment where graduate students can tackle academia's unspoken expectations while gaining practical tools for effective scientific communication, networking, leadership, and balancing career with personal life. Additionally, the course addresses sensitive issues that are relevant in academia (and any ambitious career), including imposter syndrome, conflict management, burnout, and more.

Complementing this hands-on training, Faculty member Dr. Nir Qvit has authored The Ultimate Student's Guide to Scientific Research (Routledge, 2024), an in-depth roadmap for a scientific career. The book, based on extensive academic experience, covers key topics like research design, securing funding, lab management, and career development. This guide focuses on critical decision points in a scientific career and offers practical guidance for both traditional and alternative career paths in science.

Congratulations to Prof. Alexander Lerner upon receipt of the Minister of Aliyah and Integration Prize today at the residence of President Isaac Herzog, awarded to immigrants who have made a significant contribution to Israeli society and the State.

Prof. Lerner is a world-renowned expert in orthopedic trauma of the limbs. He serves as a full clinical professor at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine and is recognized for his contributions as an outstanding lecturer over many years at both the Technion and at Bar-Ilan University. He was the head of the department of orthopedics at Ziv Medical Center, where he continues to work as a senior physician even after his official retirement in 2021.

Prof. Lerner is considered a leading figure in orthopedic surgery in Israel and worldwide, particularly when it comes to treating severe limb trauma. He lectures and shares his expertise at international conferences worldwide and has published more than 80 scientific articles. Through his research, he has developed innovative methods for treating complex fractures and saving injured limbs, and he has edited four medical textbooks. Due to his unique contributions, he serves as an orthopedic consultant to the IDF Medical Corps.

The Dean, Prof. Orly Avni, adds that since the outbreak of the “Iron Swords” war, Prof. Lerner has been volunteering to help IDF soldiers, to save severely injured limbs and prevent amputations, restoring soldiers' ability to stand and walk. He performs surgeries, provides surgical care, and offers consultations at medical centers across the country, including Barzilai, Soroka, Rambam, and Ziv Medical Centers, helping in every way possible to treat severe injuries of IDF soldiers. He also holds seminars and provides phone consultations for doctors seeking his advice in complex cases. Prof. Avni: "We are especially proud of Prof. Lerner, a world-renowned expert and an outstanding lecturer - who has done so much since the beginning of the war to treat IDF soldiers."

Pictured here: Prof. Lerner after receiving the award from President Isaac Herzog and Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer, joined by Prof. Orly Avni, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Prof. Salman S. Zarka, Director of Ziv Medical Center.

Dr. Keren Agay-Shay, from the Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee at Bar-Ilan University, was one of the keynote speakers at the AFIK in Academia - Israeli Women Professors Forum conference, held on October 28, 2024. AFIK in Academia - Israeli Women Professors Forum was established to promote gender equality in the number of female researchers in academic faculties and their representation in key positions at research universities in Israel.

Dr. Agay-Shay, an expert in environmental epidemiology, delivered a lecture on environmental impacts on women's health. She focused on specific exposures unique to women and their potential effects on health, presenting information on the impact of climate change and air pollution on women.

A central theme of her lecture was the gaps in knowledge. "Many studies in medicine in general, and in environmental epidemiology in particular, do not examine differences between men and women. We still lack sufficient understanding of the diverse environmental impacts on women, and there is much more to investigate in this field."

The lecture also reviewed the disparities in funding for research on diseases predominantly affecting women compared to male-associated diseases, as well as knowledge gaps in these areas. "I find it quite astonishing that only in 1993 was a guideline issued mandating the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical research. This means that some drugs reached the market without having been tested on women. Additionally, I was shocked to learn that only ten years ago did the NIH issue a mandatory guideline that every preclinical study on animals and tissues must include both male and female samples."

Prof. Michael Edelstein is a world-renowned expert in public health and infectious disease epidemiology. He began his academic career studying medicine at the University of Birmingham, UK, graduating in 2006. He later earned a master's degree in public health from LSHTM in London and completed a specialty in infectious disease epidemiology at the ECDC in Stockholm, Sweden.

From 2016 to 2020, he was one of the leading physicians of the UK's national vaccination program, combining operational research to optimize and make vaccines accessible to all populations. Upon his Aliyah to Israel in 2020, he joined the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee.

To date, Prof. Edelstein has published over 100 academic papers and integrates research and policy in his work. He collaborates with health ministries in Israel and worldwide to promote vaccination programs and address public health challenges during an age of misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his team were among the first to demonstrate the protective effect of hybrid immunity and the benefits of vaccines against long-term COVID-19 symptoms. His COVID-19 research focuses on the pandemic's impact on the economy, child health and allergies, and crisis management in Israel’s healthcare system.

Prof. Edelstein's research also focuses on promoting vaccinations and reducing vaccination inequality, employing innovative health data, including qualitative methods. As an example, he uses models that integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict the spread of infectious diseases.

On September 9-10, the impressive Israel Society for Microbiology (ISM) academic conference was held for the Israeli microbiology community, at the Wohl Conference Center at Bar-Ilan University.

The two-day conference was attended by hundreds of researchers studying bacteria, viruses, bacteria, and parasites, alongside guests from abroad who took part in fascinating panels and sessions. The participants heard about the latest scientific discoveries and publications in the field, and were impressed by the innovative research being carried out by students from the Faculty as well as other academic institutions in Israel.

ISM represents the community of researchers in Israel and those involved in the field, and its goal is to promote research and teaching.

The Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee is a leader in microbiology research, with Prof. Meital Gal-Tanamy, Associate Dean of the Faculty for Research and President of the Microbiology Association; Prof. Moshe Dessau, Vice Dean of the Faculty for Pre-Clinical Education and Treasurer of the Association; and Prof. Omry Koren, Dr. Shai Bel, and Dr. Nir Qvit, PIs at the Faculty who lectured at the conference.

The residents from the second cohort of the "Northern Stars" program, specializing in family medicine, recently met at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine with the Dean Prof. Orly Avni, the Associate Dean for Clinical Advancement, Prof. Danny Glikman, and the Vice Dean for Pre-clinical Education Prof. Moshe Dessau. The meeting aimed to strengthen the relationship between the physicians of the program and the faculty, and to examine ways to continue their integration into teaching, research, and professional development within the Faculty.

The residents are already actively participating in a number of courses at the faculty, including the HILA course, the lifestyle medicine course, public health, the ETGAR courseת and more. In addition, they are actively involved in research with Faculty researchers.

Under the leadership of Dr. Lilach Malatsky, the members of the second cohort meet once a quarter, with the goal of deepening the connection to the northern region, the Faculty, and leading professional figures. In the attached photo you can see the group holding a special gift they received from Prof. Chava Tabenkin - a new edition of the recommendations booklet of the Israeli Task Force on the Promotion of Health and Preventive Medicine, led by Prof. Tabenkin. The group met with Prof. Tabenkin about two months before this current meeting, and lesarned from her about professional development in the medical system in Israel. 

The Dean expressed how impressed she is with the physicians participating in the program, as did Prof. Glikman. After the participants introduced themselves to the dean, Prof. Lilach Malatsky, program manager and senior clinical lecturer at the faculty, emphasized again that they are a living example of the great importance of bringing excellent doctors to the northern region and the Faculty, and of their great contribution to both the quality of teaching and to medicine in the north.

The "Northern Stars" program is supported by Mifal Hapayis, and is the product of the vision of Prof. Offer Amir. Since then, the Ministry of Health has also joined in supporting the cycles of the program, recognizing its importance and contribution to the development of family medicine in the North.

Israeli Minister of Health, Uriel Menachem Buso, visited the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine on September 17, 2024. Also in attendance were Prof. Arie Zaban, BIU president, and Zohar Yinon, BIU CEO, as well as the mayor of Safed, Yossi Kakon.

Prof. Orly Avni, Dean of the Faculty, presented to the Minister the extensive work of the Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee and the community, its research activities and achievements, and initiatives such as the establishment of research centers that will connect academia with medical practice. She also presented the Faculty’s goals for the coming years, emphasizing the importance, especially considering the current events.

The university’s CEO, Zohar Yinon, presented the Faculty’s future infrastructural plans.

Also joining the visit were Prof. Naim Shaehadeh, the director of the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE, and Dr. Sivan Spitzer, deputy director of the SPHERE. Dr. Spitzer presented the SPHERE’s model in local municipalities, and emphasized the success of the activities, which led to the implementation of the model nationwide by the Ministry of Health.

Minister Buso shared that he grew up in the periphery and as such understands the importance of investing in it. He promised to promote the allocation of resources to the Faculty, as part of the Ministry of Health’s activities.

Prof. Orly Avni, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine: “Today, the Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee demonstrated to Minister of Health Uriel Buso the role of academia in reducing health disparities in the periphery. We have a clear vision for strengthening the medical system in the north, working in collaboration with researchers at the Faculty and clinical staff in the Galilee. All of this is to improve medical services for the residents of the Galilee.”

Dr. Sivan Spitzer: “The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE of the Faculty of Medicine serves as an operational arm for the Ministry of Health in working with local authorities to improve the health of northern residents.”

The Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee is continuing to establish a Galilee research network, integrating nine research centers that focus on specific subjects. This venture aims to strengthen the connection between the Faculty of Medicine and the hospitals, as well as foster research development and collaborations between doctors and researchers. Each of the research centers will serve as a platform for physician-researchers from hospitals and researchers at the Faculty to engage in joint research, professional conferences, submission of joint grant proposals, and continuous interaction that will contribute to the development of the dedicated fields.

The first center was inaugurated last March, dedicated to women's health research.

On Thursday, September 5, 2024, a special launch conference took place at the Faculty, to inaugurate the second center, the Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

Around 60 people participated in the conference – Faculty researchers and senior physicians from the northern region, all working in relevant fields.

The day began with greetings from Dean Prof. Orly Avni, Associate Dean for Academic Research Prof. Meital Gal-Tanamy, and Prof. Avi Peretz, Head of the Department of Academia, Innovation, and Research at the Galilee Medical Center in Poria.

Following the greetings, a session called "Researcher Identity Cards" was opened. Physicians, researchers, and graduate students at the Faculty presented their areas of interest and research to expose the participants to their specialties, and facilitate research connections and ideas for collaboration. After this session, lunch was served. Thanks to the conference, interesting collaborations for potential research were formed.

The center's activities will be led by Prof. Meital Gal-Tanamy, head of the Molecular Virology Laboratory at the Faculty and President of the Israeli Society for Microbiology, and Prof. Avi Peretz from the Galilee Medical Center in Poria.

A few photos from the launch can be seen here.

Dr. Ronit Ilouz's lab has given a new name to a unique neurodegenerative disease: NLPD-PKA. The Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Regulated by Kinases in Health and Disease laboratory headed by Dr. Ronit Ilouz researches mechanisms leading to a unique inherited neurodegenerative disease, and has given it the name NLPD-PKA. The disease develops in patients with a specific genetic mutation in the protein, which leads to the formation of protein clusters in the brain, similar to other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The grant, which is a significant achievement for the lab and Dr. Ilouz, is in collaboration with Dr. Rodrigo Maillard from Georgetown University in the USA. The two laboratories will combine their knowledge and focus on the cellular and molecular effects of the mutation on the brain, while discovering the mechanisms leading to the disease, with the aim of finding solutions for it and common diseases that share a common denominator.

The added advantage of the joint work of the two laboratories in Israel and the USA is in the combination of knowledge and expertise from a variety of fields.

Dr. Youssef Awni has been appointed as advisor to the Dean, Prof. Orly Avni, for Arab Sector Affairs.

Dr. Awni is an active faculty member at the Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee, involved in clinical medical education; in guiding medical students in the Center for Consulting Medicine under his management; in creating collaborations between the University and the Clalit Health Fund; and also serves as the chairman of the Research Center for Environmental and Population Health at the Faculty; as a member of the social commitment committee and the strategic committee of the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes Sphere of the Faculty.

Dr. Awni is an orthopedic physician, and has held significant positions that have had an influence on public health in the North: for 26 years he worked at the Emek Hospital as an orthopedist specialist and as a pediatric orthopedist, and combined administrative work in the northern district of the Clalit Health Fund. Since 1994, he has been managing the orthopedic service in the North District and established the department of control and hospitalization control in the hospitals in the North, in addition to consulting for the main administration.

In 2013, Dr. Awni was appointed director of the Nazareth Towers Consulting Medical Center, which includes 300 employees and 17 departments. Under his management, the Center became Clalit's flagship center, and won the Outstanding Center award for 10 consecutive years. He developed new services such as a pain clinic, the first fetal ultrasound, and operating rooms.

In recent years, Dr. Awni has served as the Deputy Director of the Northern District at the Clalit Health Fund, is a member of the District Board, and Assistant Vice President of the Community for Health Promotion in the Arab Society. As part of his work, he combines his extensive professional and managerial experience with his connections in Arab society and in the North in general in order to lead significant health projects and promote the health of the community.

Prof. Orly Avni, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee: "Dr. Awni is highly valued for his work at the Faculty and for the clinical medical education of our students. This is a significant position whose purpose is to strengthen the relationship with Israel's Arab sector in general and in the north in particular, considering the diversity of the population of patients and students at the Faculty. This is another milestone in the development of the capabilities of the Faculty in the Galilee to adapt to current challenges and the local population in the region.”

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine will be welcoming in the coming months, three new microscopes that will be located in the scientific equipment center.

The equipment that will be purchased will include a state-of-the-art confocal microscope that allows the creation of 3D images of the sample by changing the focus point of the light in space, a spinning disk microscope that allows monitoring of short-lived dynamic processes in cells, and an incosite system that is used to film living cells, and image processing capabilities that are based on artificial intelligence .

The purchase will be financed with the funds of a competitive grant of the council for higher education's planning and funding committee. The proposal was submitted by Prof. Itay Onn and Dr. Ron Orbach. The scientific content was provided by Prof. Meital Gal Tanamy, Dr. Shai Bel, Dr. David Enshell Seijffers and other Faculty researchers .

These advanced microscopes, which are at the forefront of technology, will bring new and advanced capabilities to the microscopy unit at the Scientific Equipment Center.

The Microscopy Unit, under the direction of Dr. Michael Assa, provides the professional supporting infrastructure for the groundbreaking research being carried out by the Faculty's researchers.

The BIU Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee always tries to be an active partner in the local community and lead to positive changes in the region. As part of our commitment to social involvement, we stepped to the plate at the request of the head of the Marom HaGalil Council, Keren Patel, to host about 80 students from grades 4 to 8 for a science workshop.

During the visit, Dr. Shulamit Fluss Ben Uliel and Dr. Michal Werbner Poran, graduates of the Faculty who are now lab managers here, welcomed the children and offered them experiential science workshops. The workshops were carefully planned to stimulate the children's curiosity, expand their horizons and give them practical experiences in science, with the hope of to exposing them to the world of research and make science accessible and fascinating for them.

This involvement is part of the broad vision of the faculty, which believes in the importance of the connection between academics and the community, with our role bridging between the worlds of science and research and the general public. We consider it a privilege and a duty to lead and support social initiatives that promote scientific education in the periphery, with the aim of empowering the younger generation and securing their future as leading researchers, doctors and scientists in Israel.

Photo credit: מוחמד אבוריא

Every year, the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine celebrates and honors the scientists, researchers, and doctors who teach at the Faculty.

This recognition is given to the scientists, researchers, and doctors who are responsible for the pre-clinical training, to the faculty who offer academic courses to the research students situated at campus laboratories, and also to the doctors who teach the students bedside, during the clinical studies phase of their training. Clinical teaching takes place in the hospitals affiliated to the faculty - Tzafon Medical Center in Poriya, Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, Ziv Medical Center in Safed, and the three hospitals in Nazareth - the Scottish, the French, and the Italian - and in community clinics all over the Galilee, clinics in the Northern and Western Galilee districts of Clalit Health Services and the northern district of Maccabi. In all of these locations, approximately 1000 lecturers are responsible for the teaching of our students.

Based on student course feedback, some 100 outstanding teachers were selected this year to receive special recognition certificates for excellence in teaching for academic year 2022-23.

Faculty management also awards certificates for outstanding courses and outstanding hospital departments.

A few pictures can be seen here.

One of the aims of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine is to mentor and train the next generation of researchers. Some will have roles in academia, and some will transition to industry. Last month, Dr. Sondra Turjeman led a new academic workshop entitled "From Academy to Industry in One Week" in which MSc and PhD students in the medical and health sciences were encouraged to take a week to think about their futures as leading scientists and researchers. The course's main aim was to introduce research students to the world outside of the academy, with a special focus on the North. 

More than 20 guest speakers came to Safed to teach about the different types of industries in Israel, explain the differences between various job titles, discuss research-adjacent roles, describe what it takes to get a job (CV, networking, and interviews), highlight differences in culture between big and small companies and new and budding start-ups, and share their experiences making the transition out of academia - including practical tips and common mistakes.

In addition to familiarizing students with types of jobs relevant to their biomedical advanced degrees, a secondary goal of the course was to provide students with tools towards obtaining these jobs. Students prepared elevator pitches - short personal statements for any occasion - CVs, and LinkedIn profiles, and on the final day of the course, they put everything together in a networking event with Faculty alumni and other members of the North's varied industry. The room was buzzing all afternoon, and the event led to a number of connections that students have already begun to cultivate, towards building their own personal networks.

Merck sponsored refreshments for the course throughout, the Bar-Ilan Employability Center provided students with personal access to LinkedIn Learning to further expand their skillset, Bar-Ilan's Unbox joined for a lecture, and guests from AgTech, MedTech, FoodTech, clinical trials, and everything in between joined from near and far.