Faculty News

Congratulations to Dr. Adnan Zina on his appointment as clinical lecturer at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Zina specializes in family medicine and endocrinology.

Prof. Karl Skorecki, Dean of the Faculty, moderated a virtual briefing on the coronavirus pandemic and Israel's ongoing vaccination campaign to an audience that included hundreds of health ministry representatives and members of the Jewish community from around the world. Professor Michael Edelstein was one of the three expert panelists. The event, held on February 9, 2021, was hosted by the Center for Jewish Impact and Bar-Ilan University.

Speakers included Prof. Michael Edelstein of the Faculty, among others.

To learn more, see here.

Dr. David Azoulay of the Galilee Medical Center, an Azrieli Faculty of Medicine affiliate hospital, successfully organized “The Katedra for Public Health in Maalot Tarshicha” virtual public scientific meeting and open discussion on different medical aspects of Coronavirus, held on January 10, 2021. There were approximately 50 participants.

Speakers included Dr. Amiel Dror; Dr. Amir Bashkin; Dr. David Azoulay; and Limor Sharoni.

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine is proud to announce that Dr. David Azoulay, a researcher at affiliate hospital, Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, has received the Israel Society for Clinical Laboratory Sciences 2020 excellent research award.

The decision was based on two papers published in international scientific journals:

1. A new flow cytometry based application developed by Dr. Azoulay for differentiation between indolent and aggressive lymphomas.
2. Research showing blood levels of BDNF as a biomarker for development of chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy in patients with hematological malignancies.

Prof. Chaim Putterman, Azrieli Associate Dean for Research and Director of the GMC Research Institute, congratulated Dr. Azoulay: "This award is further proof of your independent scientific contribution, while continuing your hard clinical laboratory work."

Dr. Azoulay would like to thank his colleagues: "I thank all the collaborators and laboratory staff and God willing, we will together continue to contribute to medical research in the Galilee."

On the evening of December 30, 2020, some 70 students, parents, teachers, researchers, and dignitaries convened via Zoom to launch the fifth Medical Cadets program, made possible thanks to cooperation between the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, the Ministry of Education, and the Eastern Galilee Municipality Cluster (represented by Galilium).

Thirty-eight highly precocious, serious and dedicated high school students from the Galilee were chosen for this most prestigious three-year program of lectures, seminars, excursions, and ultimately, preparation of a final research paper under the supervision of an Azrieli Faculty of Medicine researcher. The program counts towards the Bagrut matriculation and is highly regarded.

The Zoom launch opened with welcoming remarks from the Mayor of Safed, Mr. Shuki Ohana. Also sharing their blessings were Mr. Menachem Adler of the Ministry of Education, Ms. Carmit Shahar, Ms. Almog Meshal (coordinator), and Dr. Yiftah Barsheshet (program pedagogic director who greeted the participants in the name of the Dean, Prof. Karl Skorecki).

Dr. Barsheshet gave an intriguing brief presentation on Corona virus research being done at the Faculty (in particular, the research of Dr. Meital Gal Tanamy and Dr. Moshe Dessau), and a 12th grade student, Ms. Hadar Amarusi, shared her research with the attentive audience.

This year, as every year, we will be welcoming a heterogeneous group of students, from the following cities and towns:

Safed, Kiryat Shemona, Sajur, Hatzor HaGlilit, Maghar, Beit Jann, Ayelet Hashahar, Horfish, Pekiin

We wish the students success and look forward to reading their research papers.

Congratulations to Prof. Samer Srouji, Chief of Oral and Maxillofacial, Oral Medicine Institute and Head of Bone Regeneration Lab at the Galilee Medical Center affiliate hospital - and Azrieli Faculty member - on his appointment as International Association for Dental Research officer (treasurer).

The IADR, an international organization with local branches, is considered a leader in dental research.

This is the first time that the local chapter will include a Bar-Ilan U. officer. Officers work directly with the global organization regarding matters such as local and international conferences. All Israeli universities have IADR members, and nationally there are 4 officers.

IADR holds an annual dental research conference in Israel and Israel participates in the European as well as international conferences on clinical as well as general research.

Prof. Karl Skorecki, Dean of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, personally congratulated Prof. Srouji: "I was informed about this achievement also from other colleagues in Israel. You bring to this position vision as well as accomplishments. This gives a good name to Bar-Ilan University."

Prof. Michael Edelstein has published a chapter in the definitive virology textbook, Encyclopedia of Virology 4^th edition - "Epidemiology of Human and Animal Viral Diseases." Published by Elsevier, the encyclopedia includes 5 volumes and 3500 pages. Hardcopies will be available in March 2021 (this chapter in the link above).

The “Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine Uptake in the European Region - Engaging Underserved communities” (RIVER EU) project is a collaborative project between fourteen academic and public health organizations in ten countries in the EU and Israel.

The 5 year project, with a 3.3 million euro budget from Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation, aims to reduce health systems barriers to vaccination among ethnic, religious or cultural minorities across Europe, specifically focusing on MMR and HPV vaccination in selected underserved communities. Prof. Michael Edelstein will serve as the project’s deputy principal investigator as well as lead for the work package focusing on collecting evidence on health system barriers and enablers among low (underserved communities) and high (positive deviants) uptake communities and on interventions that improve access to vaccination services among underserved communities.

Prof. Edelstein: "There are many institutions involved. It is a very exciting project that will have a positive impact on some of the most vulnerable populations in Europe and beyond, and I am proud that Bar-Ilan U. will make a significant contribution to it. It is also a great opportunity for Bar-Ilan U. and its faculty to create strong academic links with many excellent universities across Europe."

To see Bar-Ilan spokesperson's office announcement, click here.

In early December 2020, the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine conducted an international workshop entitled Mathematics of the MusculoSkeleton: Post-Genome Analysis for Bone Biology.

The workshop included online presentations, discussions and innovative approaches, opportunities, and challenges addressed by Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and deep machine learning from experts in the field of musculoskeletal (MSK) disease, including osteoporosis, and sarcopenia.

The workshop brought together mathematicians, statisticians, and Big Data experts with clinically oriented researchers and skeletal biologists to discuss foundations and applications of experimental models in the MSK health and diseases. It was organized in order to provide a blueprint for MSK research with an aim of translating discoveries from human studies into new therapies for patients with MSK diseases. 

Among the distinguished speakers were Prof. Fernando Rivadeneira, Netherlands; Prof. Jon Tobias, UK; Prof. Bjorn Busse, Germany; Prof. Ralph Müller, Switzerland; Prof. Gustavo Duque, Australia; Prof. Christoph Winkler, Singapore; and Prof. Ching-Lung Cheung, Hong Kong. Participants from the US included Prof. Matthew Harris, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard University, and Prof. Ron Kwon. Israeli speakers included Prof. Gregory Livshits and Prof. Yankel Gabet from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University; Prof. Yuval Dor, Hebrew University; and Prof. Elazar Zelzer, Weizmann Institute of Science. Trainees, advanced scientists, and students from additional countries, such as Norway and Italy also took part in the workshop.  

The workshop was organized by Dr. Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern and Prof. David Karasik. Dr. Gideon Baum (manager of the Frenkel-Morgenstern lab) and Dan Hinenzon (IT manager) assisted in organizing and running the workshop virtually online.  

We are excited to announce that the Eastern Galilee cluster with the Faculty's leadership and support, was selected as one of seven municipal clusters to be awarded a government grant. This endeavor will implement a regional community social prescription platform that includes volunteer-based services, food security linking farm to table, and educational and recreational activities to advance the health and wellness of the region’s elderly residents. A regional health coordinator to advance the health initiatives in the region will be hired. The cluster will be awarded a 2.1 NIS budget to implement the program over two years.

Upon hearing the news, Prof. Karl Skorecki, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, said, "This is excecllent news and a tribute to you [Dr. Sivan Spitzer-Shohat] and to the supporting agencies."

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine joined forces to advance a unique academia-community-municipal network that includes 18 municipalities of the eastern Galilee cluster, Ziv and Poriya hospitals, HMOs, local NGOs and Tel-Hai and Zefat Academic colleges.

 

Warmest congratulations to Prof. Omry Koren upon receipt of a prestigious grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Karl Skorecki, praised Koren, saying, “This is a great and well-deserved achievement, which will lead to many more discoveries and breakthroughs by Prof. Koren’s group.”

Bar-Ilan University press release can be read here. Jerusalem Post online article can be read here.

With impeccable timing, a day before the first Pfizer Covid-19 vaccinations landed in Israel, a mini course took place on December 8, 2020 as part of the Infection and Inflammation course given to second year students.

The students were offered the following lectures:

• The disease as caused by the coronavirus, by Dr. Hiba Abuzayyad of the Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Poriya (infectious diseases)
• Patient care and treatment, by Dr. Moshe Matan of the Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Poriya (corona)
• Public health in light of the coronavirus, by Dr. Rami Grifat of the Ziv Medical Center (public health)
• Vaccinations against the coronavirus, by Dr. Ofer Cohen of the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Nes Ziona
• Coronavirus in children, by Prof. Shalom Ben Shimol of the Soroka Medical Center (pediatric infectious diseases)

At the end of the day, a panel discussion was held with students who are in their clinical years of study. They shared their experiences regarding their clinical rotations during the corona pandemic, including insights from those who had themselves fallen ill. 

Many thanks to Prof. Michael Edelstein, the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine's newest recruit, for arranging an excellent international Webinar series on the Covid-19 vaccine challenge this past November. The series proved to be most timely, interesting, and educational.

Prof. Edelstein, an infectious disease and vaccine epidemiology expert, comes to us from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His areas of expertise at Azrieli are public health and epidemiology.

Congratulations to the new Doctors of Philosophy from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine. Hard work pays off!

Nehora Amar, PhD
Pooja Anil Shah*, PhD
Efrat Avigad Laron, PhD
Moti Ben Shabat, PhD
Netta Blondheim Shraga, PhD
Shani Carmi, PhD 
Sivan Eliyahu, PhD
Shiri Elmedvi Baran, PhD
Natasa Ilic*, PhD
Felix Kaplan, PhD 
Nava Kesner, PhD
Nikola Lukicz*, PhD
Dhanoop Manikoth*, PhD
Etedal Morad Khaldy, PhD
Hadas Sibony Benyamini, PhD
Shams Twafra, PhD
Michal Werbner, PhD

* International students

Special thanks and appreciation to their advisors.

The Faculty offers doctoral degrees in the biomedical and health sciences.

For pictures, go here.

Congratulations to Prof. Shemy Carasso, MD, FESC, FASE, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Head, Non-invasive Cardiac Imaging Unit Cardiovascular Division B Padeh Medical Center, Poriya, on publication of his chapter in Diastology 2nd edition. The title of the chapter (25) is "Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy." The book is available in ClinicalKey.