Faculty News

The national initiative for personalized medicine, Psifas (lit. "Mosaic"), was launched in Jerusalem on Shushan Purim (March 8, 2023). Psifas is an innovative project that will collect hundreds of thousands of blood samples and information from the electronic medical records of volunteers coming from the various communities that comprise the Israeli population mosaic. These samples will be genetically sequenced and the genome data will form an information infrastructure and biological samples for research and development in the fields of personalized medicine for common and rare diseases that afflict the country's residents. This huge database, including clinical, genetic and lifestyle data that affect health, will be analyzed in an advanced computational way that will allow the adjustment of dedicated medical treatment, the most effective for the individual, with the aim of significantly improving the effectiveness of medical treatment and preventing complications and morbidity.

In addition, an advanced analysis of the data obtained will allow the identification of disease related factors and risk factors for diseases that cannot be detected by other research methods. Thanks to the medical and genetic information, it will be possible to detect earlier diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, dementia and more, which are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world, and to develop personalized treatments for them.

The inaugural ceremony at the President's House (Beit HaNassi) in Jerusalem was attended by Prof. Karl Skorecki, who serves as the chairman of the scientific advisory committee for the management of the project, and Prof. Tzipora Falik-Zaccai, who is taking part in the construction of the Israeli reference genome, which consists of 63 different subpopulations that make up the unique human mosaic of the State of Israel.

The President of the State welcomed and announced the launch of the project and volunteered together with his wife Michal to donate their blood samples to the project.

The project is a partnership of many entities: the Ministries of Health and Finance, the National Digital System, the Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Education through the Planning and Budgeting Committee, and is managed through an association of the leading universities in Israel. The project's CEO is Prof. Gabi Barbash and the head of the board is Prof. Arie Zaban. 

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University in Safed is pleased to announce the opening of a six-year MD program opening in academic year 2023-24. Application details and requirements will be publicized in the coming days.

Pictured: Illustration of future building.

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine was very nicely represented at the tenth Ilant/FISEB conference which took place in Eilat during February 20-23, 2023. Sixteen principal investigators participated, along with an impressive graduate student constituent.

The conference invites researchers, graduate students and postdocs from all Israeli universities, research institutes and hospitals, to share updates on new and exciting developments related to all disciplines of biology and translational medicine.

To see the list of Azrieli presenters - lectures, flash talks, and posters - see here.

A few pictures of the enriching and fun week are below.

And the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine winners are...

• Prof. Evan Elliott (to left)
• Dr. Jumanah Essa-Hadad (to right)

Congratulations!

Ceremony to be held at main Ramat Gan campus in May 2023.

The 12th Three-Year MD Track class assembled yesterday with their families and friends at the Esther & Haim Carasso Auditorium for the festive White Coat Ceremony.

On February 15, 2023. thirty six medical students received their white coats, symbolizing the exciting transition from pre-clinical studies in the classroom to bedside studies at the Faculty's affiliated hospitals.

Sharon Mines, Administrative Deputy to the Associate Dean of Medical Education, opened the evening and introduced Shaked Friedrich to give a short dvar torah. After, Acting Dean Prof. Chaim Putterman welcomed the crowd, stressing the following: "At our Faculty, you not only learn about the science of medicine, but also the art of healing. It is essential that we treat each patient as a unique individual with his or her own story, experiences, and needs. When you embark on the journey of medical studies, upon entering the wards, you must strive to cultivate empathy, respect, and a deep understanding of the patients who seek from us a 'balm and a cure'. Our role is not only to listen - but also to hear."

Up next to the podium was Associate Dean for Medical Research, Prof. Eric Shinwell, then Vice Dean for Clinical Education, Prof. Johnny Younis, who both shared warm words with the proud audience.

After a musical interlude by Yaniv Lifshits and Tzili Yanko, the actual ceremony commenced, with Bat-El Menahem, Student Coordinator, presenting the white coats one by one to each student, accompanied by the students' instructors who assisted each student in donning the cloaks.

In their professional attire, the entire audience then viewed a slide show recapping their student experience.

At this point, a parent of one of the students, Arik Wolak, was invited to say a few words on behalf of the parents. Another musical interlude followed, then students Mor Goldstein and Ofir Munin spoke in the name of the entire class.

The ceremony concluded with the singing of Hatikva before all posed for a group picture.

Special thanks is extended to the organizers of the evening - Hadas Oren, Dan Hinenzon, Yehiel Dahan, Yarden Perez, Avital Vaysbuch, and of course the entire student administration.

A few pictures can be seen here.

Bob Aronson, acting CEO of American Friends of Bar-Ilan University, visited the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine on January 19, 2023 accompanied by Dr. Sharon Goldman, Bar-Ilan U. V.P. Global Resources, to become acquainted with the Faculty first hand. They met with:

• Prof. Chaim Putterman, Acting Dean and Associate Dean for Research 
• Prof. Eric Shinwell, Associate Dean Medical Education
• Dr. Sivan Spitzer, Deputy Director, SPHERE; Head of Population Health Education and Principal Investigator of HEAL - Health Equity Advancement Lab 
• Prof. Michael Edelstein, Head of Public Health and Epidemiology Lab
• Dr. Alon Barash, Head of Physical Anthropology, Human Anatomy & Evolution Lab; Anatomy course director
• Dr. Hanna Keren, Head of Computational Study of Human Psychopathology and Mood Lab
• Dr. Ron Orbach, Head of Biochemistry of the Cilia and Ciliopathies Lab

Prof. Amnon Albeck, Rector of Bar-Ilan University, was also present for part of this visit.

It's always a pleasure to see good, close friends.

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine was excited to host none other than representatives from the Azrieli Foundation, on January 18, 2023. Dr. Sharon Goldman, Bar-Ilan VP Global Resources, joined Dena Libman, Chief Strategy Officer; Galit Gal, Chief Philanthropy Officer; and Ronit Burg Yaari, Grant Manager as the team met with Acting Dean Prof. Chaim Putterman; Dr. Alon Barash, anatomy and evolution researcher; Dr. Sivan Spitzer, health equities researcher and Deputy Director of SPHERE; and Dr. Shai Bel, microbiome researcher.

Do come again!

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine was pleased to host the regional 360 initiative conference on January 11, 2023. This initiative focuses on education and other important needs in early childhood (Facebook post in Hebrew here.)

Yesterday, after greetings by Mayor of Safed Shuki Ohana and other officials, sessions were held, focusing on, for example: 

• System intervention of at-risk toddlers and their families
• Taking responsibility for health - promoting health processes
• Opportunities and challenges in combining intervention programs in day care centers
• "A city that speaks languages" partnership between municipality and academia in the field of languages

Miki Eiraz, deputy in charge of the initiative shares: "We were hosted by the Faculty of Medicine in Safed, an impressive, comfortable, and very amiable venue. We have found new partners in this Faculty that is oriented towards the community. It offers, for example, a lovely project that makes the health system accessible to children, the Teddy Bear Hospital."

On January 10, 2023 Prof. Itay Onn hosted a group of 10 middle school students and 2 teachers at his lab, part of the SpaceLab competition of the Ilan Ramon Foundation for which he is an advisor. They were exposed to methods related to the project in the laboratory and at the Faculty Scientific Equipment Center.

Schools from around the country participate in the program, coming up with scientific experiments relevant to life in space. The experiments selected in the national competition are sent to the International Space Station where they are carried out.

Explains Prof. Onn: "The students approached me with an idea for an experiment and I helped them develop it into a feasible experiment and supported them in the scientific aspects of the project. The project is named 'Identifying mechanisms of chromosome instability in microgravity'."

The students will present the project at the national competition that will be held at the end of January in Jerusalem. The purpose of the visit was to demonstrate to the students the scientific methods used in the experiment. Shani Glick is in charge of the project from the students' perspective and Prof. Onn is the scientific advisor. Assisting in the visit were graduate students at the lab and the director of the laboratory, Dr. Avi Matityahu. Dr. Ella Maoz, Dr. Yehuda Gabbai, and Dr. Michael Asa, volunteered to offer the children demonstrations in their fields of expertise.

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine was pleased to host Bar-Ilan U. International School management, Prof. Moshe Lewenstein (BIU Deputy President), Prof. Rachel Dekel (Academic Head), and Mr. Ofer Dahan (Executive Director) on January 1, 2023. The team met with Acting Dean, Prof. Chaim Putterman; Chair of the Graduate Degree Committee, Prof. Meital Gal-Tanamy; International School Representative, Dr. Dorith Raviv-Shay; an impressive group of researchers; and international graduate school students from several countries. The groups updated each other on recent activities and future plans, and came up with excellent ideas for the continued success of International School presence at the Faculty of Medicine.

This past week of Hanuka was filled with community activity. Not only did the Faculty welcome Bnei Menashe residents on the third night, and celebrate the second night with high school Medical Cadets at a Faculty ceremony, but even our own students spread light and joy.

Student Union representatives, along with the "Nefesh Yehudi" organization, visited children hospitalized at the Ziv Medical Center affiliate hospital, lighting candles on the first night of Hanuka.

And our medical students on rotation, hospital staff, and Student Union representatives lit candles at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Poria.

A few pictures can be seen below. 

The "social action" team comprised of representatives from the administrative and academic staffs at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine organized a festive candle lighting for the Bnei Menashe community living in Safed. About twenty families arrived with their children at the Faculty on the evening of December 20, 2022, the third night of Hanukkah. The children had fun playing in the dark outside with flashlights and dreidls. Dr. Kobi Maman, faculty representative, said a few words. Sunil Pashkar, a PhD student from India who introduced the Faculty in Hindi, and Shimshon, the head of the community, welcomed the participants. Community members sang traditional songs accompanied by guitar, while our international students from India bridged the language gap. And yes, of course there were sufganiot (donuts)! We looking forward to more community engagement events in the future.

This year's cohort of medical cadets were honored at a ceremony at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine on the second night of Hanuka, December 19, 2022. The group of high-achievers will be exposed to the world of medicine as early as their high school years.

Speaking at the ceremony, which was held in the Esther & Haim Carasso Auditorium, were Mayor of Safed, Mr. Shuki Ohana; supervisor of programs for excelling students of the Ministry of Education, Ms. Avishag Idan; academic advisor of the program, Dr. Chen Carvalho Shochat; and researcher/lecturer Dr. Alon Barash who spoke about the human heart.

This year is the fifth cycle of the program. Some 70 students from the 10th, 11th and 12th grades are participating this year. The students come many schools in the north of Israel: Ulpanat Amit Safed, Ulpanat Kiryat Shmona, Danziger Kiryat Shmona, Anna Frank Sasa, ORT Sajur, Makif A and B Majar, Makif Beit Jan, Makif Hula Valley, Makif Har Vagya, Makif Six-Year Horfish, Makif Six-Year Peki'in, Amit Hatzor Educational Campus, ORT Hatzor, Sciences and Arts Nahariya, Shehakim Nahariya, WIZO Nir Ha'emek Afula, ORT Oren Afula, ORT Alon Ben Gurion Afula, ORT Yigal Alon Nof HaGalil, ORT Ma'alot, Multidisciplinary Safed, and Nofei Golan Katsrin.

The event included a festive reception and Hanuka candle lighting.

A festive and exciting ceremony inaugurated the official cooperation between The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE and the Municipality of Nof HaGalil. The celebratory event took place at the Nof HaGalil municipality on December 7, 2022 and was attended by many officials, including Mayor of Nof HaGalil, Mr. Ronen Plot; Deputy Mayor, Dr. Shukri Awuda; and of course, SPHERE director and deputy director, Prof. Naim Shehadeh and Dr. Sivan Spitzer, respectively. The event was also attended by important players such as directors of the departments of education, welfare, absorption and volunteering in the municipality of Nof HaGalil; directors of local health funds (Kupot Holm); and SPHERE reps.

Plot said, "In the future, many children will thank us for the investment we are making today, a result of the excellent partnership we forged here with SPHERE."

Awuda said that the city is blessed by being able to take part in this important initiative.

Shehadeh reiterated, "The SPHERE approach is to treat all aspects of the disease, including prevention, information and education, with the aim of reducing gaps between the periphery and the center [of the country] by working together with all the players in the city, with the local authority being at the center."

SPHERE is a research initiative for personalized social medicine that promotes equity in health that brings together under one roof researchers from different fields - biology, medicine, social sciences and humanities - for the purpose of dealing with the challenge posed by diabetes in the Galilee.

Read more (in Hebrew) on the SPHERE Facebook page.

On December 1, 2022 Ravit Steinmetz, the Israel representative of Northern NJ Federation (pictured above in the middle), visited the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, accompanied by Dr. Sharon Goldman, VP for Global Resources (above, left). As the Northern NJ Federation is twinned with the city of Naharia, she met with Professor Chaim Putterman, Acting Dean and Associate Dean Research (pictured above, to the right), to learn about the research, projects, and programs in Naharia in which the Faculty is involved (the Galilee Medical Center is an Azrieli affiliate hospital). Steinmetz was also given a briefing by Dr. Alon Barash, who demonstrated the unique anatomage anatomy table, highlighting the Faculty's advanced pedagogical techniques; and Professor Shai Bel (pictured below, to the left) shared thoughts and ideas on the amazing world of the microbiome.