GLOBAL IMPACT OF THE AUSiMED FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM
To date, AUSiMED has provided 12 Fellowships for future leaders in Israeli medicine at Australian hospitals and research institutions. All of our Fellows have entered senior roles at their home institutions soon after returning to Israel and all are making major contributions to healthcare and medical research in Israel.
Dr Saar Hashavya
2014-15 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Saar received training in managing a Paediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) at Sydney Children’s Hospital. He was appointed Head of the PEM Department at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem immediately after his return to Jerusalem in 2015. Since taking up this position Saar has: Conducted an international PEM workshop program in Ethiopia with the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Conducted a PEM workshop for Palestinians, Israelis and other health care workers.
Introduced new equipment and procedures to Hadassah PEM department such as removable hand splints and advanced pain relief techniques.
Established an ongoing PEM training program for general practitioners and paediatricians.
Increased focus on academic activities in the field of paediatric emergency medicine
Established a “traveling “simulation center to provide onsite paediatric training.
Dr Asaf Ta’Shma
2015 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Paediatric Cardiology research fellowship at Monash University
Asaf learned new skills for genetic testing not previously available in Israel.
Asaf is a paediatric cardiologist from Hadassah Hospital with an interested in genetic research. He was trained in a world leading technique developed at Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University using chicken embryos to study specific genetic mutations in the PLD1 gene causing heart defects in children. He was also trained in a new gene splitting technique on the PLD1 gene called CRISPR/CAS 9 using zebra fish.
a. Asaf has set up a very cost-effective chicken embryo lab at Hadassah Hospital.
b. The PLD1 variant that Asaf identified during his fellowship at Monash could help in prevention of congenital heart defects in future pregnancies.
c. A new collaboration has been established between Hadassah Hospital and Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine) where Nadia Rosenthal (who Asaf worked with at Monash) is the scientific director.
Dr Hagai Avnet
2016-17 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Foetal ultrasound research and training fellowship at Sydney Women’s Hospital
Hagai acquired a range of new ultrasound skills for assessment of foetal wellbeing in high risk pregnancies. Hagai’s substantial body of work to the field of foetal cardiac function research paved the way to allowing these new modalities to be implemented into clinical work, which in turn will have the potential for improving perinatal outcomes. He is now at Tel Hashomer Hospital where he has set up a specialist clinic to manage complex pregnancies.
“AUSiMED has had a key role in both my clinical and academic achievements.” – Dr Hagai Avnet
Dr Amit Lotan
2017 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Paediatric neurodegenerative disease research fellowship at Florey Institute, Melbourne
Working with Prof Ashley Bush helped Amit develop his research skills in the field of neurodegenerative diseases under the expert mentorship of a world leader in this new area of science.
After returning to Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem Amit was instrumental in establishing an AUSiMED-funded collaborative project with the Florey Institute dealing with Vascular Dementia.
Dr Foad Alsana
2016-17 Community Paediatrics Fellowship, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
Dr Dafna Idan-Prusak
2016-18 Community Paediatrics Fellowship, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
Dafna and Foad gained extensive experience in working with children with behavioural-developmental issues and in-depth knowledge about community paediatrics programs being implemented in Australia. Dafna is now working with the Goshen National Centre for Community Child Health. Foad is introducing Community Paediatrics programs in the Negev, with a special focus on the Bedouin community. Dafna is establishing Goshen’s activities in Northern Israel.
“The fellowship opened my eyes to new thinking about paediatric services.” Dr Foad Alsana
Dr Oded Breuer
2017-19 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Cystic Fibrosis clinical and research fellowship
Dr Oded Breuer, a respiratory paediatric specialist from Hadassah Hospital, undertook a two-year clinical and research fellowship at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth under the supervision of Professor Stephen Stick in 2017-2018. Oded joined the Australian Respiratory Early Surveillance Team for Cystic Fibrosis (AREST CF) which is a collaboration of specialist paediatric cystic fibrosis centres in Perth and Melbourne. His research focused on developing a new technique for early identification of respiratory tract exacerbation in children with cystic fibrosis to provide better guidance for treatment and prevention of exacerbations.
Oded returned to his clinical position as a respiratory paediatric specialist at Hadassah Hospital in May 2020. He has continued his research collaboration with the AREST CF team in Australia and co-authored eight research articles with the team. Oded has introduced new treatment techniques at Hadassah Hospital with the potential to greatly improve outcomes for paediatric CF patients.
“My experience here has made me a better doctor and will allow me to better educate younger physicians.” Dr Oded Breuer
Dr Moran Almog
2020 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Cardiac Embryology Research Fellowship at Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI), Sydney.
Moran undertook a 12-months research fellowship in Prof. Sally Dunwoodie’s world-renowned Chain Reaction Program in Congenital Heart Disease lab. He received training in advanced genomic analysis tools and worked with a team of researchers, developmental biologists and biostatisticians to solve complex cases of congenital heart defects. Moran plans to use the knowledge acquired at VCCRI to advance cardiac genomics research in Israel and contribute to the genetic counselling of patients and families suffering from congenital heart disease.
Dr Einat Martonovich-Lantsberg
2021 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Einat completed a 2-year training program in community child health at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. She is now working with the Goshen National Centre for Community Child Health.
Dr Nir Samuel
2022 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Dr Nir Samuel MD PhD is the Trauma and Research lead, Emergency Medicine, at Schneider Children’s Medical Centre, Israel. In 2022, he undertook paediatric trauma care training at the Alfred Hospital Major Trauma Service and the Royal Children’s Hospital. He is currently participating in a National Trauma Research Institute study utilizing a novel device for chest trauma procedures and leading a big data study to improve strategies for severely head injured patients.
Dr Clair Habib
2023 Lowy Paediatric Fellowship
Dr Clair Habib is currently undertaking a clinical and research training position in Neurogenetics at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). On her return to Israel, Clair is expecting to take on a senior role as a paediatric neuro-geneticist at Rambam Health Care Campus. As part of the fellowship, Clair had joined the Neurogenetics, Leukodystrophy, and Neurofibromatosis clinics and the Metabolic team at RCH. She has completed a variant curation program at the Victorian Clinical Genetics Services and she has joined the genomic team for more extensive genomic training. The Victorian Clinical Genetics Services (VCGS) is the genetic services arm of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, which is the largest child health research institute in Australia and one of the top worldwide for research quality and impact. The training by our highly experienced genomic team at VCGS will equip her ideally as a geneticist with the bioinformatic tools to curate next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, copy number variations and mitochondrial variants.