Faculty of Medicine Newsletter 40 (April 26 - May 9, 2021)

לניוזלטרים בעברית לחץ כאן.

For PDF version, click here.

Teddy Bear (Zoom) Hospital Was a Success

This year’s Teddy Bear Hospital proved to be lots of fun, extremely well organized and executed, and very educational. To read up about it, click here, and to see pictures, click here. With thanks to Freddy Zinger for making the event possible again this year, on May 3, 2021.

Seminars

Special Seminar: Objectivity in medical policy-making: an Israeli case study of how ethical ideals shape healthcare (Dr. Yael Assor, hosted by Dr. Miri Bentwich)
Special Seminar: Advancing science in society through citizen science (Dr. Yaela Golumbic, hosted by Dr. Sivan Spitzer-Shohat)

Conferences

The Galilee Medical Center, an Azrieli Faculty of Medicine affiliate hospital, held its 21^st annual conference entitled “Medicine During the Holocaust” on May 5, 2021, with approximately three dozen speakers. The conference was held frontally as well as via Zoom. For more details, see the GMC website.

Prizes

Congratulations to Lihi Grinberg upon receipt of the Bar-Ilan University Rector’s Prize for research students (research advisor: Dr. Ron Piran).

Student Life

For the past four years, as part of the Healthy Faculty Initiative and part of the MAHAR (Social Responsibility) course, a group of eight first year medical students are recruited as part of the Student Wellness Leader’s Team. They organize and implement activities that promote peer health and well-being.

This year’s work plan includes online active breaks, an upcoming mindfulness workshop, and online exercise sessions. Plus, they purchased a mobile volleyball net and organized a healthy cooking workshop competition, to name a few. To encourage healthy eating, the team brought healthy snacks for the class to enjoy during the HILA (Basic Clinical Practices) course.

As part of the learning process, the students develop an evaluation plan and assess the impact of their activities. The team is supervised by Dr. Jumanah Essa-Hadad (Healthy Faculty and Lifestyle Medicine Coordinator) and Dr. Lilach Malatskey (Vice Dean for Community Medicine Education).

The MD/PhD Track

Dr. Dorith Raviv-Shay has shared with us that a very inspiring session was held on May 5, 2021 for first year students interested in learning about the prestigious MD/PhD program.

Dr. Shai Bel described the experience of Nobel prize winners Drs. Brown and Goldstein, and how they became involved in research. Dr. Amiel Dror presented a very convincing case for why this will be their best decision ever, if they have a passion for research, and not to let it slip by.

Prof. Chaim Putterman and the Dean, Prof. Karl Skorecki, also offered their perspective of how being an MD/PhD made them better doctors.

The Student Application Process

Prof. Itay Onn reports that the four-year medical school track selection process is well on its way. Results of the two standardized tests are being sent to the Faculty, after which hundreds of applicants will receive invitations for the next stage, personality tests and interviews. Interviews at the Faculty are scheduled for June. Dr. Onn adds, “Dozens of faculty members will be asked to interview the applicants, along with psychologists, in order to ensure that we choose only the best students who will then be trained to become excellent physicians.”

Reminder: Online Medical Education Workshop for Clinical Instructors

Prof. Peter Gilbey’s five online workshops (in Hebrew) for clinical teachers, aimed at improving medical education, continue. Topics covered:

March 22 and April 5, 2021 - "The clinical teacher"
April 12 and April 26, 2021 - "Optimal learning environment and setting clear educational goals"
May 5 and May 24, 2021 - "Clinical teaching models"
May 31 and June 14, 2021 - "Teaching professionalism and effective feedback"
June 21 and June 28, 2021 - "Student evaluation in a clinical setting"

For more information, click here.

Condolences

Condolences to Noga Manor on the passing of her father.
Condolences to Prof. Jamal Zidan on the passing of his mother.
Condolences to the families of those killed in the disaster in Meron on Lag B'Omer (April 30, 2021), wishes for a quick recover for those wounded, and thanks to the medical staff in Azrieli Faculty affiliated medical centers - Ziv in Safed, Padah in Poria, and GMC in Nahariya.

Did You Know?

This image shows a section of colon tissue from a mouse under a fluorescent microscope. The microbiome is stained in green, the mouse colon epithelium edge in red, and nuclei in blue. The mucus barrier separating the host epithelium from the microbiome is clearly visible in black (Jasmin Sawad and Dr. Shai Bel).

Website: What’s New?

Publications

Reminder that publications by Azrieli faculty are generally posted in chronological order based on publication date, per PubMed listings. If you have published an article recently that appears on PubMed but that was not listed in a Newsletter, I apologize, and please do let me know.

Mohammad E Naffaa: Immune-Mediated Disease Flares or New-Onset Disease in 27 Subjects Following mRNA/DNA SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination (Vaccines (Basel) . )
Fahed Hakim: Optogenetic activation of local colonic sympathetic innervations attenuates colitis by limiting immune cell extravasation (Immunity .)
Rifaat Safadi, Tawfik Khoury, Nizar Saed, Marwan Hakim, Jeryes Jamalia, Yousef Nijim, Nicola Farah, Tawfik Nuser, Mahmud Mahamid: Efficacy of Birth Dose Vaccination in Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of Hepatitis B: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Engerix-B and Sci-B-Vac (Vaccines (Basel) . )
K Kridin: 'Hidradenitis suppurativa and amyloidosis: a possible association with the pyrin inflammasome': reply from authors (Clin Exp Dermatol .)
Omar Badran, Anton Ouryvaev, Veronika Baturov, Ayelet Shai: Cytomegalovirus pneumonia complicating immune checkpoint inhibitors-induced pneumonitis: A case report (Mol Clin Oncol .)
Michal Tietel, Lilach Shema-Didi, Ruti Roth, Maya Frank Wolf, Jacob Bornstein: Compliance with a new quality standard regarding administration of prophylactic antibiotics before cesarean section J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med .)
Said Abozaid, Wael Nasser, Avi On, Avi Peretz: Recurrent Late-Onset Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Disease Transmitted Through Breast Milk (Isr Med Assoc J .)
Mohammad Adawi: The Effects of the Ramadan Fasting on Metabolic and Immunological Disorders (Isr Med Assoc J .)
Adnan Zaina: COVID-19 Pandemic and Ramadan Fasting among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (Isr Med Assoc J . )
Khalaf Kridin: Coexistence of bullous pemphigoid with neuropsychiatric comorbidities is associated with anti-BP230 seropositivity (J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol .)
Khalaf Kridin: Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Sleep Disorders: A Population Based Study (J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol .)
Amir A Kuperman: Emicizumab prophylaxis: Prospective longitudinal real-world follow-up and monitoring (Haemophilia .)
Khalaf Kridin: Chronic renal comorbidities in pyoderma gangrenosum: a retrospective cohort study (Immunol Res .)
Omry Koren: Autologous fecal microbiota transplantation can retain the metabolic achievements of dietary interventions (Eur J Intern Med . )