Year: 2024

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Sandy Benjamin OAM and Norman Same join the AUSiMED Board of Directors

We are delighted to welcome two new directors who joined the AUSiMED board in December 2024.  Sandy Benjamin OAM and Norman Same.

Sandy has degrees in psychology and Social Work and practiced for seventeen years in family psychiatry and adoption. She lectured in the social work school at La Trobe University, played a leading role in the reform of adoption law in the state of Victoria, Australia, and ran a private counselling service for people with fertility problems. She has serves as Chairman and President of the Jewish Museum of Australia and was Director of the Foundation of the National Gallery of Australia from 2007 to 2017.

Norman is a director of EQ8 Accountants with a Bachelor of Economics and a Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Organisation Dynamics. He has extensive experience working with small-to-medium sized enterprises, particularly with family businesses. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser of the Taxation Institute of Australia and an affiliate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He is a passionate hockey player and is currently the Finance Director of World Masters Hockey.

We look forward to the invaluable contributions Sandy and Norman will bring to our organisation.

Putting the AUS front and centre in AUSiMED
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Putting the AUS front and centre in AUSiMED

Prof Lewin AO, Ron Finkel AM and the delegation

In 2022, with COVID still high on the public health agenda, AUSiMED facilitated the visit to Israel, of fifteen of Australia’s leading Public Health experts.

Led by Professor Sharon Lewin, the Director of the Doherty Institute, the 15-person group, including the Chief Health Officers (CHO) of NSW and South Australia, the Deputy CHO of Victoria, engaged with their Israeli counterparts in a rewarding exchange of learnings from the battle with COVID-19. This was made possible by the generosity of our supporters.

A further major outcome of the Lewin mission was the connections made between the Australian delegates and their Israel counterparts in the Digital Health Innovation space.

In 2023, AUSiMED is working to strengthen these connections and facilitating exciting Digital Health initiatives with Israeli experts that will benefit Australia’s health care system.

The benefits of shared experiences are highlighted by delegation members ProfJodie McVernon, Director of Doherty Epidemiology, Doherty Institute and Dr Fergus Gardiner, Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), Director of National Emergency Response, Public Health and Research.

“We can learn from Israel about turning complex record systems into data sets that can used as ‘information for action’ by practitioners and epidemiologists.”ProfJodie McVernon

“The introduction ofgame-changing Israeli telehealth technology to facilitate remote medical examinations could result in major health benefits for Australians living with chronic diseases and people living in remote and rural communities.” Dr Fergus Gardiner

Welcoming new AUSiMED Fellow – Dr Ophir Bar-On
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Welcoming new AUSiMED Fellow – Dr Ophir Bar-On

AUSiMED is pleased to welcome Dr. Ophir Bar-On to Australia. Ophir is an outstanding paediatric respiratory disease physician and researcher, who has been working as a senior physician at the Pediatric Pulmonology Institute at Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel(Schneider) since 2014.

During his AUSiMED 12-monthLowy Paediatric Fellowship at the Respiratory Department at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Ophir will share his clinical expertise with his counterparts at RC Hand participate in important research in the area of environmental insults on airway cilia function under the supervision of Prof. Phil Robinson, Director, Dept Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at RCH.

Prof Dario Prais, Director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Institute (PPI)at Schneider Children’s Medical Center believes that this fellowship will:

  • Enrich the institute’s expertise in the field of ciliary dyskinesia and children’s lung disease in general;
  • Prepare Ophir for taking up a more senior role at Schneider Children’s Medical Center and contribute to the future development of Schneider’s PPI;
  • Strengthen ties between these two leading paediatric respiratory departments; and
  • Benefit children with lung diseases and their carers both in Australia and Israel.

This AUSiMED Fellowship has been made possible by the generous support of the Lowy Foundation.

We wish Ophir a very fruitful and enjoyable experience in Australia.