Faculty of Medicine Newsletter 62 (May 2022)

PDF for easier reading here.

Teddy Bear Hospital 2022

Back in person, or rather, bear!

See below (Faculty News, Faculty Press Coverage, Image Gallery) for press coverage and pictures. Was a great success! Stay tuned for the movie…!

Israel Police Delegation at Azrieli

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine hosted the Israeli Police for their pre-Lag Ba’Omer briefing, on May 12, 2022. After last year’s tragedy on Mount Miron, the Police took extra precautions this year to maintain order and implement participant safety measures.

Conferences

Prof. Karl Skorecki was invited to speak at the May 12, 2022 Ziv Medical Center conference on Knee and Shoulder Surgeries: Common approaches to complex issues
Prof. Michael Edelstein spoke on May 18, 2022 at the UKHSA National Immunisation Network Meeting 2022: Recovering the national immunization programme (via Zoom)
UPCOMING: CALL FOR PAPERS – Abstracts are welcome for the fourth oncology conference at Ziv Medical Center. Deadline June 15, 2022. For more information contact shirel.e@ziv.gov.il

Spotlight on Our Researchers and Students

Several of Azrieli’s researchers and students were recently profiled in various media outlets. We would like to share this exposure with you: Shani and Tatiana

Dr. Avi Peretz was interviewed about hand washing hygiene, hospital practices, and WHO guidelines, on the Bar-Ilan University main Facebook page (May 10, 2022).
Dr. Sarina Shabso received a post-doctoral grant for outstanding women. She will join Prof. Hans Clevers’ lab at the Hubrecht Institute. (See the BIU “Women in Academia” Hebrew Facebook page, May 24, 2022.)
Shani Nahmani (pictured here with Dr. Tatiana Rosenthal, on Facebook), a first year MD student, was interviewed for the local “Hadashot Hadarom 24” Facebook page about her decision to study medicine as a result of an excellent relationship she had with her role-model pediatrician (May 23, 2022).
Two 34-year old Azrieli medical students were profiled in the April 19, 2022 issue of the Hebrew TheMarker – Dina Lidsky (below, to right) and Adi Litmanovich – in an article about women who chose to make career changes later in life, to Medicine.

Appointments and Promotions

Congratulations to Prof. Edo Birati upon his appointment to Clinical Associate Professor
Congratulations to Prof. Sophia Eilat-Tsanani upon her promotion to Clinical Associate Professor

Prizes, Fellowships, and Publications

Congratulations to Prof. Masad Barhoum (pictured to right), General Director of the Galilee Medical Center, upon his receipt of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel Lifetime Achievement Award.
Congratulations to Prof. Lior Lowenstein on the publication of his new book Textbook of Rare Sexual Medicine Conditions (Springer)
Congratulations to Dr. Liron Rozenkrantz upon her receipt of an Alon Fellowship for the support of outstanding young scientists.
Congratulations to Wisal Swaed (Dr. Ron Piran’s lab) upon her receipt of the Rector’s Prize for Graduate Students

Student Life

First year students met for some bonding time at a local bar near Safed, a fun evening out on May 15, 2022. In addition to good company, they enjoyed the yummy food and drinks.
An event of the Student Union in collaboration with the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, took place on May 1, 2022 at the Eretz Winery near Ziv Medical Center. The students enjoyed free wine, cheese platters, bread and dips, and a tour.
The tenth class has just completed their pre-clinical studies and will be moving on to their clinical studies after receiving their White Coats at a festive ceremony on June 1, 2022.

Meet Our Doctors

We have in the past introduced our readers to Azrieli Faculty of Medicine and affiliate, researchers. This time we would like to introduce you to Dr. Iris Ohel-Shani, a gynecologist who directs the Clalit Womens Health Clinic in Tiberias and works at the gynecology ultrasound unit at Emek Medical Center in Afula. She writes:

I embarked on my professional journey at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev and at Soroka Hospital. After my internship at Soroka, I chose gynecology as a field that combines surgery, internal medicine, and meeting women in many stages of their lives and health.

After 13 years as a specialist I am still amazed at how broad this field is, and am happy about my choice. As an intern I was exposed to a lot but chose to focus on obstetrics and ultrasound.

I became familiar with the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in Safed through the students who came to clinical rounds in the gynecology department at the Emek Medical Center recently, students who come to us at the Barkati clinic for a round of gynecology in the community. I also taught in the “Hila” (Professional Foundations for the Future Doctor) course and the course on infectious diseases.

When I worked in a hospital as an intern and specialist, I felt the center of the world was inside the hospital. Now I understand how important and challenging work can be done in the community and I am happy that the trend is to move treatments traditionally given only in hospitals, to the community. I believe that in addition to economic considerations, the well-being of patients is paramount.

I think that research and meeting and teaching students enriches us professionally and improves our clinical level as caregivers. A qualitative study recently published by Prof. Dalit Yasur from Emek Yizrael College and myself deals with the attitudes and feelings of experts regarding late-stage abortions. This requires intrusive intervention, high level technical skills, and the potential to produce moral dilemmas that may lead to mental stress in the operating team ("moral distress"). The topic and qualitative research was new to me.

In meeting with the students I see young people who like me, chose medicine out of a strong desire to heal and help. I often see the light in their eyes and when I ask what they will specialize in, the answer I like to hear the most is, "I still do not know, everything attracts and interests me." This is one of the signs that you are in the right place. The road is long, and I wish every one to enjoy it.

Bar-Ilan University Open House

Bar-Ilan University held an open house for potential students, at the main Ramat Gan campus, on May 20, 2022. Potential students and their families stopped by to inquire about the Faculty’s MD as well as graduate study programs. Pictured here are the President of BIU, Prof. Arie Zaban, with Azrieli Administrative Head Noam David Reshelbach, and Dr. Alissa Burstein.

Mazal Tov

Congratulations to Noam David Reshelbach on the birth of a granddaughter.
Congratulations to Yehiel Dahan on the birth of a grandson.

Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE

Keep abreast of SPHERE activities on their Facebook page, here.

Azrieli Alumni Please Note

Please help us spread the word to Azrieli alumni that we want to keep in touch! We want to hear from them. Go to our “Request for Information” page, here.

Seminars

Faculty Seminar: Elucidating the molecular mechanism of myoblast fusion in vertebrates (Ori Avinoam, WIS)
Faculty Seminar: Modeling and Correction of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency by CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing in Human Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (Dr. Ayal Hendel, BIU)
Faculty Seminar: Hijacked lipid droplets fuel enterovirus replication (Dr. Orly Laufman, WIS)
Faculty Seminar: Harnessing nature to create new organic materials for tissue regeneration (Prof. Lihi Adler-Abramovich, TAU)
Special Seminar: The Development of Depression: Risk and Protective Factors (Dr. Reuma Gadassi-Polack, Department of Psychology & Psychiatry, Yale University hosted by Dr. Limor Meoded-Danon)
Special Seminar: Between Death and Life: Brain Death and vital Organ Donations - Ethics, Jewish Law and Israeli Law (Dr. Irit Offer-Stark, Shalom Hartman Institute and BIU, hosted by Dr. Miri Bentwich)
PhD Seminar: The Role of Salivary and Gut Microbiota in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Complications (Adi Eshel, supervised by Prof. Omry Koren)
Upcoming Faculty Seminar: Leukemia evolution and the aging of the blood system (Dr. Liran Shlush, WIS)
Upcoming Special Seminar: Trauma, Illness and Narrative in the Medical Humanities: The Case of Combat Veterans (Dr. Rakefet Zalashik, TAU, hosted by Dr. Miri Bentwich)

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.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL PUBLICATIONS BY RESEARCHERS AT AZRIELI OR ITS AFFILIATE RESEARCH CENTERS MUST PROPERLY CITE THIS AFFILIATION: Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel. IF YOU ARE UNSURE OR NEED GUIDANCE, PLEASE CONTACT US.

Inbar Ben Shachar, Ilan Atlas: Does sentinel lymph node biopsy in endometrial cancer surgery have an impact on the rate of adjuvant post operative pelvic radiation? An Israeli Gynecologic Oncology Group Study (Gynecol Oncol Rep. )
Ran Katz, Muhamad Abu Ahmed, Ali Safadi, Wasiem Abu Nasra, Alexander Visoki, Michael Huckim, Ibrahim Elias, Meital Nuriel-Ohayon, Hadar Neuman: Characterization of fecal microbiome in biopsy positive prostate cancer patients (BJUI Compass .)
Avi Benov, Elon Glassberg: Humanitarian Medical Aid Mission in the Middle of a Pandemic - Israeli Experience in Equatorial Guinea (Prehosp Disaster Med .)
Dally-Gottfried Orna: Early exposures and inherent factors in premature newborns are associated with type 1 diabetes (Pediatr Res .)
Michal Carmiel Haggai, Inshirah Sgayer, Jacob Bornstein, Marwan Odeh, Lior Lowenstein, Maya Frank Wolf: Liver stiffness and steatosis in preeclampsia as shown by transient elastography - a prospective cohort study (Am J Obstet Gynecol . )
Tamar Leshem, Bat-Shachar Schnall, Maya Azrad, Avi Peretz: Incidence of biofilm formation among MRSA and MSSA clinical isolates from hospitalized patients in Israel (J Appl Microbiol . )
Erez Kachel, Liza Grosman-Rimon, Shachar Yehezkeel, Leonid Sternik, Ehud Raanani: The Modified Sternoplasty: A Novel Surgical Technique for Treating Mediastinitis (Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open . )
Khalaf Kridin: Hidradenitis suppurativa: Evaluating activity patterns and predictors of recalcitrant course-A population-based study (Australas J Dermatol . )
Sumit Mukherjee:A comparative analysis depicting the disease characteristics and phylogenetic signature of human cytomegalovirus infection in Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 seropositive patients with end-organ retinitis and gastro-enteric diseases (Sci Re
Alon Barash: On the job training in the dissection room: from physical therapy graduates to junior anatomy instructors (BMC Med Educ . )
Michael Carmiel: Safety and Effectiveness Using 8 Weeks of Glecaprevir/Pibrentasvir in HCV-Infected Treatment-Naïve Patients with Compensated Cirrhosis: The CREST Study (Adv Ther .)
Michael Carmiel: Safety and Effectiveness Using 8 Weeks of Glecaprevir/Pibrentasvir in HCV-Infected Treatment-Naïve Patients with Compensated Cirrhosis: The CREST Study (Adv Ther .)
Michael Carmiel: Safety and Effectiveness Using 8 Weeks of Glecaprevir/Pibrentasvir in HCV-Infected Treatment-Naïve Patients with Compensated Cirrhosis: The CREST Study (Adv Ther .)
Yara Hamshawi, Assaf Malka, Ron Piran: P systems with protein rules ( Journal of the Franklin Institute)
Inass Kayyal-Tarabeia, Michael Blank, Keren Agay-Shay: "Residential greenness and site-specific cancer: A registry based cohort of 144,427 participants with a 21-years of follow-up, Tel-Aviv district, Israel" (Environ Res . )
Adeeb Zoabi, Idan Redenski, Daniel Oren, Adi Kasem, Asaf Zigron, Shadi Daoud, Liad Moskovich, Fares Kablan, Samer Srouji: 3D Printing and Virtual Surgical Planning in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (J Clin Med . )
Gassan Moady, Shahar Perlmutter, Shaul Atar: The Prognostic Value of Natriuretic Peptides in Stable Patients with Suspected Acute Myocarditis: A Retrospective Study (J Clin Med .)
Shemy Carasso, Offer Amir: The Relationship Between Body Mass Index and In-hospital Survival in Patients Admitted With Acute Heart Failure (Front Cardiovasc Med .)
Idan Segal, Nadra Nasser Samra:De novo variants of CSNK2B cause a new intellectual disability-craniodigital syndrome by disrupting the canonical Wnt signaling pathway (HGG Adv . )
Roie Fisher, Ohad Ronen: Cytologic diagnosis of parotid gland Warthin tumor: Systematic review and meta-analysis (Head Neck . )
Roie Fisher, Ohad Ronen: Cytologic diagnosis of parotid gland Warthin tumor: Systematic review and meta-analysis (Head Neck . )
Offer Amir: Changes in voice patterns for monitoring heart failure deterioration (EuroIntervention . )
Hiba Zayyad: Hospitalised patients with breakthrough COVID-19 following vaccination during two distinct waves in Israel, January to August 2021: a multicentre comparative cohort study (Euro Surveill .)
Inbar Ben Shachar: Predicting the rate of adjuvant postoperative chemo/radiation in cervical cancer with tumor size ≥2 cm and <4 cm: An Israeli Gynecologic Oncology Group study (Surg Oncol .)
Offer Amir: Effects of sildenafil on symptoms and exercise capacity for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and pulmonary hypertension (The SilHF study): A randomised placebo-controlled multicentre trial (Eur J Heart Fail .)
Raymond Farah, Alaa Sawaed, Kasem Shalata: Pneumomediastinum: A Rare Complication of COVID-19 (Isr Med Assoc J .)
Nomy Dikman, Rola Khamisy-Farah, Raymond Farah, Jumana Essa-Hadad, Nataly Lipavski: The effect of COVID-19 pandemic on burnout among physicians in northern Israel hospitals (Isr Med Assoc J . )
Maayan Gruber: Ventilation-induced epithelial injury drives biological onset of lung trauma in vitro and is mitigated with prophylactic anti-inflammatory therapeutics (Bioeng Transl Med . )
Lilach Malatskey, Jumanah Essa-Hadad, Reut Eldar, Inna Filipov, Sophia Eilat-Tsanani, Mary C J Rudolf: Medical student lifestyle counselling for non-communicable disease: impact on students' competence and patients' health behaviors (Isr J Health Policy Res )

Faculty News

Faculty Press Exposure

Press coverage for the month of May 2022 focused primarily on the Faculty’s annual Teddy Bear Hospital, made possible thanks to the generosity of Freddy Zinger. Read more here in English and here in Hebrew.

Image Gallery

Teddy Bear Hospital