Putting the AUS front and centre in AUSiMED

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

AUSiMED Celebrates 10 Year of Achievement

AUSiMED Celebrates 10 Year of Achievement

AUSTRALIA-ISRAEL MEDICAL RESEARCH (AUSiMED) is celebrating TEN years of achievement.

AUSiMED was launched in the strong belief that Australia and Israel, two world leaders in clinical research, could, through collaborative endeavour, deliver outcomes beneficial to both countries AND the global community.

We are proud of the progress we are making, delivering on this Mission.

2022 was a particularly impactful example of the power of our cross-border model. In September 2022, AUSiMED hosted the 2nd Jerusalem International Conference on Trauma and Mental Health which delivered a powerful program covering innovative approaches to the treatment of PTSD to participants from Europe, the middle east, Australia, and North America.

In 2022 AUSiMED also 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.

What is particularly gratifying is that we were able to deliver on these major initiatives while continuing and deepening our commitment to world-leading Australia-Israel collaborative clinical research initiatives and Fellowships.

The list of AUSiMED’s achievements is long and it is continuing to grow and deepen due to the ongoing, generous support we are receiving from our donor community.

2022 Lewin COVID-19 Research & Public Health Delegation to Israel

2022 Lewin COVID-19 Research & Public Health Delegation to Israel

Australia and Israel are strategic partners in trade, culture and health. In the wake of COVID-19, AUSiMED recognised an opportunity to distil and exchange the lessons learnt by Australia and Israel in their response to the pandemic. In September 2022, a high-level Delegation of Australian public health officials and expert scientists participated in a COVID[1]19 Learning Exchange Mission to Israel. The mission was organised by AUSiMED with the active support of the Israel Embassy in Canberra.

The delegation was led by Professor Sharon Lewin AO, Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and Co-Chair of the National COVID-19 Health and Research Advisory Council (NCHRAC). 

During the 5-day visit the delegation met with many of Israel’s top public health officials and practitioners to develop person-to-person networks between Australia and Israel and inform ongoing management of the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially other infectious diseases going forward.

The Lewin COVID-19 Delegation was hugely successful on a range of important dimensions while also meeting AUSiMED’s mission of enhancing global health outcomes through engagement between Australia and Israel. A number of opportunities for future collaboration were identified during and following the mission, including:

A very exciting opportunity for the Royal Flying Doctors Service to trial an Israeli device enabling one of the major barriers to use of telehealth (being the inability to physically examine the patient) to be largely overcome;

Further engagement between Australian and Israeli data modelling experts regarding systems and approaches to data linkage, machine learning, and predictive algorithms; and

Opportunities for new AUSiMED fellowships in several areas.

Introducing AUSiMED's 2022 Lowy Paediatric Fellows

Introducing AUSiMED's 2022 Lowy Paediatric Fellows

Dr Nir Samuel (AUSiMED Fellow) with Prof Mark Fitzgerald and Dr Danny Ben-Eli (Trauma Service, Alfred Health, and NTRI)

Two Israeli paediatricians, Dr Nir Samuel and Dr Clair Habib, began their AUSiMED Fellowships in 2022.

Nir is training Paediatric Trauma Care at the Alfred Hospital Trauma Services and the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne. Upon returning to Israel in early 2023, Nir is expecting to take on the Trauma Lead of Paediatric Emergency Department.

Dr Clair Habib (AUSiMED Fellow) and Dr Karen Teshuva (AUSiMED National Program Director)
Clair is receiving research and clinical training in neuro-genetics at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and RCH. Upon returning to Israel in September 2023, Clair is expecting to take on a senior role as a paediatric neuro-geneticist at Rambam Health Care Campus. Both Fellowships were made possible by the generous support of the Lowy Foundation.