Board Members
Naim Abu-Freha
Israel
Naim Abu-Freha
Dr. Naim Abu-Freha Born in Tel-Sheva, Negev in Israel, on 31 July 1980
I received my M.D. from the Tuebingen University, Germany at 2005 before becoming resident at internal medicine and then completed my gastroenterology residency at the Soroka Medical Center at 2014.
I am employed as a senior physician at the Institute for Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Soroka University Medical Center and lecturer at the faculty of Health science, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel. In addition, I am working in the different HMOs.
Since 2019, the head of the gastroenterology institute, Assuta Beer-Sheva.
I deal with gastroenterology and hepatology in general, and especially with genetic syndrome of the colorectal cancer. I researched different topics in the gastroenterology/Hepatology and different issues regarding the Bedouin Arab minority in southern Israel.
I am one of the founder’s group of the Arab Medical Associations in the Negev (AMAN) and the first Chairman of the Associations since 2015.
Lior Katz
Israel
Lior Katz
My name is Lior. Married + 5 lovely children. I did my GI fellow at the Sheba Medical Center, and my postdoctoral fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
I retired from the IDF after almost 20 years of military service. My last position was the chief of gastroenterology service. At Sheba, I established the clinic for patients and families at high risk for GI malignancies.
Since 2018, I am the director of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center.
Since 2020 I am the secretary of the Israeli Association of Gastroenterology and Liver diseases.
My research interest is GI cancer prevention for average risk and high risk patients.
Lev Lichtenstein
Israel
Lev Lichtenstein
Dr. Lev Lichtenstein is the Head of the IBD Unit at Samson Assuta Medical Center (Ashdod), and the acting Head of the Gastroenterology Unit at Clalit (Dan) Medical Services (integrated to the Division of Gastroenterology at Rabin Medical Center). He received his medical degree from Goldman Medical School, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; completed GI Fellowship at Rabin Medical Center, and advanced clinical IBD Fellowship at the University of Chicago. His main clinical and research activity is focused on IBD. Dr. Lichtenstein is a clinical consultant at Immunology Department, Weizmann Institute of Sciences. Dr. Lichtenstein is a member of Israeli IBD Section, ECCO and AGA, and serves as Board Member of Israeli Association of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases.
Michal Openhaim
Israel
Michal Openhaim
Dr. Michal Openhaim is a Gastroenterologist specialist in Clalit health services
2004 M.D Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem. Israel
2005-2010 Internal medicine specialty, Department of Medicine B, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel.
2010-2012 Senior Physician, internal medicine department B in the Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel.
2012-2015 Gastroenterology and liver disease specialty, Department of Gastroenterology, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba Israel.
2015 – Gastroenterologist in Clalit health services with special interest in IBD.
2020 – member of the Israeli association of gastroenterology and liver diseases
Rifaat Safadi
Israel
Rifaat Safadi
Prof. Rifaat Safadi M.D.
Full Professor in Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem & a Visiting Scholar, at the Division of Liver Diseases, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NY. The treasurer of the Israeli Society of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases (2020-2023). The Chairman of The Israel Association for the Study of the Liver (2013-2016). A leading member of several international Liver associations committees such as European Association for the Study of Liver (EASL, scientific committee and governing board 2007-2010), American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD, International Relations Advisory Committee 2010-2012). He is the Director of Liver Unit, Institute of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Division of Medicine, Hadassah, Ein-Karem. Additionally, Director of Liver Unit & Clinical Research Center (since 1998), Holy Family Hospital, Nazareth, Israel. Prof. Safadi had his residency in Internal Medicine & Gastroenterology at Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem. His clinical focus is in Fatty Liver Disease, viral hepatitis, Cirrhosis complications and liver cancer, immune diseases of the liver, liver transplantation and inflammatory bowel diseases. With his laboratory team, the interplay research between lymphocyte subsets and hepatic fibrogenesis uncovered novel pathways and challenges. Recently focused on new immune metabolic NK Checkpoints and therapeutic targets, with patents and drug developments. He received many awardees and research grants and published more than 200 manuscripts in high rated professional journals within the clinical and basic research liver fields. He is a reviewer and a member for editorial boards of several academic journals. Prof Safadi is married to Sana and a father of 3 children.
Haim Shirin
Israel
Haim Shirin
Haim Shirin is the Director of the Gastroenterology and Liver Disease Institute at the Shamir Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel, affiliated with the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel. Prof. Haim Shirin is a graduate “cum laude” of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He is a specialist in internal medicine and in gastroenterology and liver diseases. After his gastroenterology residency he did a post-doc fellowship in The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Columbia University in New-York, USA, where he focused on Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer.
Prof. Shirin is extremely dedicated to clinical work and in parallel he is doing clinical research. He published more than 100 original papers in peer review journals, many of them in high quality and high IF journals, and presented his studies in national and international meetings. His main field of interest is Helicobacter pylori.
He is an active member of the Israeli Gastroenterological Association (IGA), and Israel Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. He is also an active member of the American Gastroenterological Association.
Recently (2020), he has been elected as the President of the IGA.
Haim Shirin, M.D.
Director, Gastroenterology & Liver Disease Institute
Shamir Medical Center,
Zerifin, Israel
Tel: +972-8-9779722
Fax: +972-8-9779727
email: haimsh@shamir.gov.il
Faculty
Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa
USA
Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa
Ghassan Abou-Alfa is an Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical School at Cornell University. Professor Abou-Alfa specializes in in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies and in particular, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), intrahepatic and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHC), gallbladder cancer (GB), and fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC). Professor Abou-Alfa is the immediate previous Chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Hepatobiliary Task Force and member of the NCI AIDS Malignancy Consortium Steering Committee. Professor Abou-Alfa is a member of the International Affairs Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and serves as member of its Steering Committee. Professor Abou-Alfa is also the President for the International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology (ISGIO). Professor Abou-Alfa majored in biology, earned his medical degree, and now serves as a trustee on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater the American University in Beirut (AUB). Professor Abou-Alfa completed his postdoctoral training in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology at Yale University, is completing his JD from Fordham University, and already received his MBA from Columbia University.
Professor Abou-Alfa’s research focuses on incorporating small biological molecules and checkpoint inhibitors into standard cancer therapies. In recent years, his group at MSK led the first efforts evaluating sorafenib in HCC, that was ultimately approved by the FDA for that indication in 2007. Professor Abou-Alfa also led his group at MSK on the efforts evaluating cabozantinib which was approved by the FDA for HCC indication in 2019. Professor Abou-Alfa has also championed key work in determining novel targeted therapies for IHC and GB, targeting IDH-1, FGR-2, and Her-2. He lately led the efforts of pemigatinib, which was approved by the FDA in 2020, for patients with IHC and FGFR-2 alterations. With his heavy involvement the use of checkpoint inhibitors in the malignancies of interest, Professor Abou-Alfa leads on a global effort to be understand the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) that would help identify the most applicable therapeutics or combination of. He also and in collaboration with Michel Sadelin and Scott Lowe focuses on determining the right CAR-T antigens for HCC and FLC, and IHC. Professor Abou-Alfa and team have also worked and were first to report on germline alterations associated with biliary tract cancers.
Professor Abou-Alfa envisions the universal quest for health, embodied by physicians upholding humanistic ideals, supersedes geopolitics among the world’s people. Recognizing germline alterations as an endless opportunity to explore cancer related environmental and other genetic risk factors of varied populations and regions, Professor Abou-Alfa is co-leading with Professor Larry Norton a global effort to study humanity cancer germline convergence and divergence cancer predispositions worldwide. Professor Abou-Alfa strongly advocates for greater awareness of cancer’s global impact; and continues to lead several international educational and research efforts with different institutions worldwide. Professor Abou-Alfa spearheaded many projects worldwide including the MENA region, Africa, Southeast Asia, Eurasia, and the Americas. These efforts include several monthly video-link worldwide educational conferences led by MSK, which is now global and includes institutions from throughout the global, including add to Lebanon, India, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Malawi, and Brazil, with several of its proceedings are already published in peer–reviewed journals. Professor Abou-Alfa also leads regular class-training conferences offered on competitive basis worldwide in collaboration between MSK and AUB to help educate and teach about the state of the art of cancer care and learn about the germline, somatic, and environmental risk factors and treatment practices in the respective country and region. This almost two decades old collaboration, one of the most sustained between an US institution and one in the MENA region, has led to the development of the first joint tissue bank with a shared database in the region. The joint programs also offer supported post-graduate training opportunities for excelling medical graduates. Collectively, these collaborative efforts Professor Abou-Alfa develop the business model that helps enhance academic interaction and set a platform to build on partnerships among institutions. Along the same path, Professor Abou-Alfa is leading an effort along with colleagues from 23 countries in Africa to draft the Africa Guidelines for screening and treating HCC, written by African colleagues for Africa.
Professor Abou-Alfa also takes on an advocacy role while research funding continue to lag despite the worldwide impact of this disease. Professor Abou-Alfa serves and served on several advisory boards including the American Liver Foundation, Fibrolamellar Carcinoma Foundation, Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, and Blue Faery Foundation, and is a regular volunteering contributor to the Binay Foundation in Nepal. He co-authored with Professor Ronald DeMatteo 100 Questions and Answers About Liver Cancer, now coming to its fourth edition, and with his dear wife and colleague Professor Eileen O’Reilly, also a medical oncologist at MSK, 100 Questions and Answers About Biliary Cancer now coming to its third edition.
Qasim Aziz
England
Qasim Aziz
Professor Qasim Aziz is Professor of Neurogastroenterology and director of the Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology.
Professor Aziz’s research contributed to the identification of the brain representation of human swallowing muscles and has helped to identify the human brain centers that process gastrointestinal pain and their modulation by injury and stress. His research has explored neurophysiological aspects and treatment of conditions such as Non-Cardiac Chest Pain and Non-erosive reflux disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. He has performed pioneering research exploring the link between connective tissue disorders and gastrointestinal symptoms.
Professor Aziz was awarded the Sir Francis Avery Jones Research Gold Medal by the British Society of Gastroenterology in 1998 and the Janssen Award for Basic and Clinical Research by the American Gastroenterology Association in 2000. He is past chair of the neurogastroenterology section of the British Society of Gastroenterology and has been a member of the Education and Scientific Committees of United European Gastroenterology and European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. He was until recently the specialty lead for gastroenterology for the North Thames Clinical Research Network and is current President of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility.
Ofer Ben Bassat
Israel
Ofer Ben Bassat
ד”ר עופר בן-בסט
מנהל היחידה למחלות מעי דלקתיות – המכון לגסטרואנטרולוגיה
המרכז הרפואי האוניברסיטאי ברזילי
שלום רב,
ברצוני להציג את עצמי,
שמי עופר בן-בסט, מנהל את היחידה למחלות מעי דלקתיות במכון הגסטרואטנרולוגי בביה”ח ברזילי.
את ההתמחויות ברפואה פנימית וגסטרואנטרולוגיה עברתי בביה”ח בילינסון, ושם גם עבדתי כרופא ראשי במחלקה פנימית, ובהמשך ניהלתי את השירות למחלות מעי דלקתיות, במערך לגסטרואנטרולוגיה במשך ארבע שנים.
בין השנים 2011-2013, עברתי הכשרה קלינית מתקדמת בתחום ה- IBD, בביה”ח Mount Sinai בטורונטו, קנדה, שם חקרתי וצברתי נסיון בתחום הטיפול המותאם אישית לחולים, התחקות אחר תהליכי התקדמות המחלה והשימוש בעזרים קליניים וביוכימיים לניבוי התנהגות המחלה. מצוייד בכלים אלו, הרחבתי את השירות ל-IBD בבי”ח בילינסון ושם יישמתי מודל של טיפול רב-מקצועי במטופלינו. אני מאמין כי מתן שירות זמין מאוד וסיוע לצוותי המטפלים הראשוניים, הן בקהילה והן במחלקות בית החולים השונות, הנדרשים לטפל בחולי IBD ומצבי כשל-מעי (Gut failure) הוא המפתח לטיפול נכון ועדכני. ביחידתנו, בביה”ח ברזילי, אנו נותנים מענה כזה, בד בבד עם הכשרה מקצועית לצוותים בביה”ח: הרופאות והרופאים, צוותי הסיעוד, והסטודנטים.
Guy Boeckxstaens
Belgium
Guy Boeckxstaens
Prof. Boeckxstaens obtained his medical degree in 1987 and his PhD degree in 1991. In 1994, he completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine / Gastroenterology and accepted a staff position in the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In 2005, he became Professor of Neurogastroenterology at the Academic Medical Center and was appointed co-chair of the department of Gastroenterology and head of the gastrointestinal research. In 2007, he accepted a full professorship in Medicine at the University of Leuven (Belgium) in the department of Gastroenterology. He received several national and international prizes and received the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant in 2014 and in 2019. He was Secretary and President of the Dutch Society of Neurogastroenterology. Currently, he is Associate Editor of Gut, member of the Editorial Board of Neurogastroenterology and Board Member of the Industrial Research Fund of the University of Leuven, Belgium. He served as chair of the Rome IV committee on Fundamentals of Neurogastroenterology–Physiology Motility & Sensation. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has an H-index of 56. The scientific expertise of the research group of Prof. Boeckxstaens relates to neurogastroenterology and neuro-immune interactions in the gastrointestinal tract. The mechanisms leading to diseases such as achalasia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic constipation, functional dyspepsia and postoperative ileus have been the main topics of interest over the past 20 years.
Tal Brosh
Israel
Tal Brosh
Dr. Tal Brosh-Nissimov, a specialist in internal medicine and infectious diseases, directs the ID unit in Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital, the newest public hospital in Israel, operating since 2017. As a past senior medical officer in the CBRN Medicine of the Israeli Defense Forces, he specialized in countermeasures for bioterrorism and epidemics, and had extensive experience in both operational preparedness and scientific research in these fields. Since 2010, he coordinates the Israeli Epidemic Management Team, a multidisciplinary committee that advices the Ministry of Health. Among the main projects led by Dr. Brosh-Nissimov in that position were the national preparedness process for a public health event due to an unknown agent, guidelines for category A bioterrorism agents, the national response to H1N1 influenza and to the ebolavirus outbreak in West Africa.
Since the beginning of 2020, Dr. Brosh-Nissimov is among the leading experts consulting the Israeli response to COVID-19, including guidance for infection-control and prevention, preparation of hospitals and community services, diagnostics, therapeutics, and research. Dr. Brosh-Nissimov co-chairs the Israeli committee for COVID-19 vaccines, that approved COVID-19 vaccines for use, prioritized vaccine administration, and performs surveillance on effectiveness and safety.
In the clinical field, Dr. Brosh-Nissimov has research interests in epidemiology of infectious diseases, antibiotic stewardship and sexually transmitted infections.
Noa Dagan
Israel
Noa Dagan
Noa Dagan is a public health physician and researcher. She holds an MD and an MPH from the Hebrew University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Ben-Gurion University. She is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Dagan is the director of data and AI-driven medicine at the Clalit Research Institute. Her responsibilities include the development and implementation of digital healthcare solutions to promote preventive, proactive and personalized medicine. She leads the entire lifecycle of AI-driven interventions, from conception, through machine-learning modeling, to implementation in medical practice.
Roy Dekel
Israel
Roy Dekel
Dr. Dekel is a graduate of the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine, and specialized in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Ichilov Hospital. Afterward (2002-2003), he trained as a research fellow in the field of gastrointestinal disorders in Tucson Arizona. During subsequent years he underwent further training in functional disorders in some of the leading centers in the United States in Boston, Chapel Hill and Chicago. Since 2006 he has served as a senior physician at the Institute for digestive and liver diseases at the Tel Aviv medical center. He is a member of the Israeli neurogastroenterology and motility section of the Israeli medical association. His main clinical and research activity is focused on functional and motility disorders of the GI tract.
Liat Deutsch
Israel
Liat Deutsch
Dr. Liat Deutsch (Mlynarsky) is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine, from the Hebrew university, Jerusalem, Israel. She specialized in internal medicine at “Meir” Medical Center and was the head of the “young internists” committee at the Israel society of internal medicine. Additionally, she specialized in gastroenterology and Liver diseases at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv (TLVMC), Israel.
Since 2016 she has served as senior physician at the Institute of gastroenterology and liver diseases at the TLVMC, and her main clinical activity and research is focused on clinical nutrition. In 2019, she has completed a clinical attachment to the Intestinal Failure Unit in Salford Royal NHS foundation trust, Manchester, UK. Due to her interest in small bowel pathologies, she is also the head of the video capsule endoscopy service at the TLVMC.
Dr. Deutsch is a member of the Israel Gastroenterology Association (IGA), The Israeli Society for Clinical Nutrition and The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism and serves as the head of the clinical nutrition committee in the IGA.
Dr. Liat Deutsch (Mlynarsky)
Department of Gastroenterology AND Liver disease
Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
6 Weizman St. Tel-Aviv 64239, Israel.
office: 972-3-6974119
fax: 972-3-6973422
email:
liatml@tlvmc.gov.il
Dr.Liat.Deutsch@gmail.com
Geert D’Haens
The Netherlands
Geert D'Haens
Geert D’Haens is Professor of gastroenterology at the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam where he leads the IBD Unit. After graduation at the University of Leuven, Belgium, he was trained in gastroenterology, gastrointestinal endoscopy and inflammatory bowel diseases at the University Hospitals in Leuven and at the University of Chicago Hospitals under the mentorship of Paul Rutgeerts and Steven Hanauer, respectively. He finished his PhD thesis in 1996 on mechanisms causing postoperative recurrence of Crohn’s disease. After that, most of his research efforts went into the mechanism of action of new IBD drugs, the development of endoscopic endpoints and surrogate markers for IBD and the effect of early intervention with anti-TNF. In 1999, he was co- founder of ECCO, the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization. Currently, D’Haens leads a group of more than 35 IBD researchers in the AMC. He is also Medical Director of Robarts Clinical Trials in Europe and former chairman of IOIBD, the international organization for study of IBD. He authored more than 400 peer reviewed articles so far and participates in many drug development programs and clinical trials for IBD.
Iris Dotan
Israel
Iris Dotan
Iris Dotan is the Director of the Division of Gastroenterology at the Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel, affiliated with the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel. Prof. Dotan received her medical degree from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Her postdoctoral fellowship was at the Immunobiology Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA, where she focused on intestinal epithelial cell biology. She is a specialist in internal medicine and in gastroenterology and liver diseases.
Her clinical and research interests focus on biomarker-based stratification of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases and a personalized approach to their treatment and care, biologicals and novel therapies for inflammatory bowel disease, and the follow-up of ulcerative colitis patients before and after restorative proctocolectomy (pouch surgery), in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary pouch clinic. Prof. Dotan conducts translational research in mucosal immunology, focusing on the interactions of intestinal epithelial cells and mucosal lymphocytes with their environment. Prof. Dotan first described the anti-glycan antibodies and their relevance to Crohn’s disease a decade ago, and investigates the role of glycans in intestinal immune responses.
Prof. Dotan published more than a 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is the past President of the Israeli Association of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, a member of ECCO, the deputy chair IOIBD, and the Immunology and IBD section of the AGA.
Iris Dotan, M.D.
Director, Division of Gastroenterology
Rabin Medical Center,
39 Jabotinsky St. Petah-Tikva 49100, Israel
Tel: +972-3-9377237
Fax: +972-3-9210313
email: irisdo@clalit.org.il
Eyal Gal
Israel
Eyal Gal
55 Years old, Married+ 3
Graduated from Sackler medical school, University of Tel Aviv – 1989
Specialized in internal medicine at Rabin Medical Center – 1995-1999
Specialized in Gastroenterology and advanced endoscopy at Rabin Medical Center – 1999-2002
Senior physician, head and founder of the small bowel disease service at Rabin Medical Center 2002-2017
Head of advanced endoscopy service at Kaplan Medical Center 2017-present.
Specializeds in ERCP, capsule endoscopy, deep enteroscopy, advanced polypectomies including EMR and ESD.
Haim Gilshtein
Israel
Haim Gilshtein
ד”ר גילשטיין , סוקר מאמרים למספר עיתונים כירורגיים בתחום הכירורגיה הקולורקטלית. כמו כן חבר באיגוד הכירורגים הישראלי, החברה הקולורקטלית הישראלית וכן בחברה הקולורקטלית האירופאית והאמריקאית.
תחומי פעילותו הקלינית והמחקריים כוללים: כירורגיה כללית וכן כירורגיה קולורקטלית של מחלות מעי דלקתיות ומחלות שפירות וממאירות של המעי הגס,הרקטום ופי הטבעת.ד”ר גילשטיין פרסם פרסומים מדעיים רבים בתחום התמחותו, כולל פרקים בספרים מקצועיים
Nathan Gluck
Israel
Nathan Gluck
Director, GI Malignancy Unit, Department of Gastroenterology
Research Center for Digestive Tract & Liver Diseases, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
Senior lecturer in Internal Medicine, Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv University
Nathan Gluck received his MD and PhD degrees in biochemistry from the Hebrew University and a postdoctorate at the University of Michigan. He is a board certified gastroenterologist focused on cancer genetics and prevention. His leads an independent research group at Research Center for Digestive Tract & Liver Diseases and has been awarded numerous competitive research grants.
Yochi Hagay
Israel
Yochi Hagay
Dr. Yochi Hagay, Ph.D., is the CTO and the co-founder of BioHarvest Ltd, formerly served as Chief Executive Officer of BioHarvest. She has an extensive experience in leading research and development in the pharmaceutical and bio-tech industry. Prior that Dr. Hagay served as a managing partner at Zaki Biotech Venture Capital fund. Ms. Hagay has served in various positions in BioTechnology General (BTG) for 15 years, until it was acquired by Ferring Pharmaceauticals.
Ms. Hagay holds a PhD in biotechnology from Hebrew University.
Elizabeth Half
Israel
Elizabeth Half
ד”ר הלף, מנהלת את היחידה לממאירויות מערכת העיכול במכון הגסטרואנטרולוגי בקריה הרפואית רמב”ם. ואחראית תחום סקר סרטן ברמב”ם
תחומי המחקר של ד”ר הלף מתרכזים בעיקר במסלולי התפתחות סרטן ובגורמי סיכון לסרטן, בין היתר עוסקת בהבנת יחסי הגומלין שבין אוכלוסיית חיידקי גוף האדם לבין הסיכון לחלות בסרטן.
בתחום הקליני מתרכזת ד”ר הלף באבחון אוכלוסיות בעלות סיכון גבוה, מעל הממוצע, להתפתחות סרטן. זיהוי האנשים בסיכון, אפיון הבעיה הספציפית בין אם מדובר באדם שחלה בסרטן או פוליפים, סיפור משפחתי של סרטן ובין אם מדובר במחלה דלקתית כרונית של המעי הגס כמו קרון או קוליטיס כיבית. בנוסף יש לד”ר הלף ענין ומומחיות בתסמונות משפחתיות של סרטן מערכת העיכול הכוללות תסמנת לינץ, פוליפוזיס משפחתי, PEUTZ JEGHER SYNDROME וJUVENILE POLYPOSIS
ד”ר הלף קיבלה את תואר ה- BA מאוניברסיטת בן גוריון, ואת ה-MD מאוניברסיטת תל-אביב. את ההתמחות בפנימית סיימה במרכז רפואי מאיר ובשנת 2000 ומשם לפוסט דוקטורט במרכז הסרטן MD ANDERSON שבטקסס, ארה”ב, בנושא מסלולי התפתחות של סרטן. לאחר 3 שנים של עבודת מעבדה התקבלה למסלול התמחות קליני בגסטרואנטרולוגיה באוניברסיטת טקסס בשיתוף עם MD ADERSON CANCER CENTER שאותו סיימה ב 2006. עם שובה ארצה הקימה את המרפאה לתסמונות משפחתיות של סרטן במרכז רפואי מאיר בכפר סבא ובהמשך גויסה על ידי רמב”ם להקים את היחידה לממאירות מערכת העיכול במסגרת המכון לגסטרואנטרולוגיה של ביה”ח.
ד”ר הלף הייתה שותפה לכתיבת GUIDLINES ישראלים לאבחון, מעקב וטיפול אחר משפחות עם תסמונות של פוליפוזיס או תסמונת סרטן מעי גס שאינו על רקע פוליפוזיס. כמו כן כתבה מאמרי סקירה רבים בנושא סרטן מעי גס, מניעה ומעקב שפורסמו בעיתונות הבינלאומית.
ד”ר הלף חברה בחוג לממאירויות של האיגוד הישראלי לגסטרואנטרולוגיה וחברה במועצה הלאומית למניעה, אבחון וטיפול במחלות ממאירות. כמו כן חברה באיגוד האמריקאי לגסטרואנטרולוגיה.
Alice Herskovic
Israel
Alice Herskovic
Born July 18th, 1975, in Brussels, Belgium.
Professional education
- 1991-1997: Medical education at the Faculty of Medicine at the Rijksuniversiteit of Leiden, The Netherlands – M.D degree.
- 1997-2000: Internal medicine specialization at the Catholic University Clinic St Luc, Belgium
- 2000-2001: Gastroenterology specialization at the Catholic University Clinic St Luc, Belgium
- 2001-2003: Fellowship in gastroenterology and liver unit at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Jerusalem
- 2003-2004: Complementary Internal medicine fellow in Internal medicine, Sheba medical center – Israeli board exams in internal medicine (upon request of scientific council)
- 2004-2006: complementary Gastroenterology fellow in Meir Hospital (requested by the scientific council) – Israeli board exams in gastroenterology
- 2006-2016: fulltime active in clinical work at the gastroenterology clinic in Kupat Holim Clalit in Herzliya as well as liver Clinic in Hadera Specialist Clinic of Clalit
- 2016-present: Head of the Gastroenterology unit in Herzliya Specialist Clinic of Kupat Holim Clalit
Revital Kariv
Israel
Revital Kariv
Revital Kariv is a specialist in internal medicine and gastroenterology and liver disease, specializing in GI neoplasia, hereditary GI cancer and oncogenetics and in colorectal cancer screening and prevention.
She is serving as a physician at the department of Gastroenterology, Sourasky medical center and as head of Gastroenterology at Maccabi Health Care Services and as professor at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
Her training includes briefly medical school at the Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical center, Internal medicine residency at Sheba medical center, specialty in Gastroenterology and liver disease at Sourasky medical center. Research fellowship at Case University, Cleveland and at the Cleveland clinic and advanced studies of genomics and bio-informatics at Bar Ilan University.
Research topics include: Hereditary cancer syndroms, particularly polyposis syndromes, germline genetic analyses, APC readthrough by macrolides, nutrition and lifestyle association with colonic neoplasia, CRC screening and prediction algorythms, desmoid tumor, pouch neoplasia.
Dr Kariv clinical interest include early onset GI cancer and neoplasia, hereditary cancer syndromes, colorectal polyps and polyposis, pre- malignant GI conditions as Barett’s esophagus, integrative treatment of GI cancer survivors, patients with desmoid tumors, IBD. Through her public position at MHS she aims to promote and advance Gastroenterology community and public practice and establish innovative approaches for GI related digital medicine, prediction algorythms and patient related outcome measures- PROMS.
Dr Kariv publishes regularly at peer review journals and presents at national and international meetings
In addition, she has been an active member of the national counsil of Gastroenterology, Israeli Gastroenterological Association (IGA), and a member of several international associations and consortia.
Amir Klein
Israel
Amir Klein
ד”ר קליין הינו מרצה בכיר קליני בפקולטה לרפואה של הטכניון ופרסם מאמרים מקוריים, מאמרי סקירה וחיבר פרקים בספרי לימוד בנושא אנדוסקופיה מתקדמת וכריתת פוליפים גדולים, אבחון וטיפול של דימומים במערכת העיכול, מחלות מעי דלקתיות, ואנדוסקופיה באמצעות גלולה מצלמת של המעי הדק. ד”ר קליין קיבל פרסי הצטיינות על פעילות הדרכה וליווי סטודנטים לרפואה במסגרת האגף הפנימי של המרכז הרפואי רמב”ם.
תחומי העניין העיקריים של ד”ר קליין הינם שיפור הגילוי והטיפול בפוליפים במערכת העיכול, זיהוי אנדוסקופי של פוליפים ממאירים בעזרת אנליזת תמונה ממוחשבת, טכניקות אנדוסקופיות מתקדמות לכריתת פוליפים גדולים , טיפול במחלות של דרכי המרה והלבלב ואבחון באמצעות קפסולה מצלמת של המעי הדק והגס.
Peter Lakatos
Israel
Peter Lakatos
He is professor of medicine and director of IBD Centre at McGill University Health Centre. Until January 2017 he was head of the gastroenterology/hepatology ward, endoscopy unit and outpatient clinic at the 1st Department of Medicine, Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. He is member of scientific committee of CIRC, the educational committee in ECCO and IOIBD member. He is one of the founders and leader of the Hungarian IBD Study Group. He is regular reviewer in leading international journals in gastroenterology/hepatology, section editor in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, BMC Gastroenterology and associate editor in J Crohn’s Colitis and World Journal of Gastroenterology. During his career he published more than 300 original papers and reviews including 26 book chapters. His primary research interest is the epidemiology, quality of care, outcomes research and optimization of old and new medical therapies in IBD.
Peter LAKATOS, MD, DSc, FEBG, AGAF
Director of IBD Centre, Professor of Medicine
McGill University Health Centre, Montreal General Hospital,
1650 Ave. Cedar, D16.173.1,Montreal, QC, H3G 1A4
Tel: +-1-514-9341934 x ext 45567
Fax: +1-514-934-4452
e-mail: Peter.Lakatos@muhc.mcgill.ca
e-mail: peter.lakatos@mcgill.ca
Carel le Roux
Ireland
Carel le Roux
Professor Carel le Roux graduated from medical school in Pretoria South Africa, completed his specialist training in metabolic medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospitals and the Hammersmith Hospitals. He obtained his PhD from Imperial College London where he later took up a faculty position. He moved to University College Dublin for the Chair in Experimental Pathology and he is now a Director of the Metabolic Medicine Group. He also holds the position of Professor of Metabolic Medicine at Ulster University. He currently coordinates an Innovative Medicine Initiative project on obesity. He previously received a President of Ireland Young Researcher Award, Irish Research Council Laurate Award, Clinician Scientist Award from the National Institute Health Research in the UK, and a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship for his work on how the gut talks to the brain.
Dan Livovsky
Israel
Dan Livovsky
Studied medicine in Mexico City; In 2006 I obtained a medical degree from Anahuac University, Faculty of Health Sciences in Mexico City.
Internship and a residency in internal medicine at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center.
Finished a fellowship in Gastroenterology and liver diseases at the Digestive Diseases Institute in Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2015.
Since 2016 serve as senior gastroenterologist and head of the parenteral nutrition committee, the parenteral nutrition team and the parenteral nutrition ambulatory clinic in Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
Since 2018 hold an academic degree of lecturer in Medicine and Gastroenterology at the Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Since September 2020 till present research fellow and advanced trainee in neurogastroenterology and motility at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Vall d’Hebron Reaserch Institute, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona Spain.
Principal clinical and research interests: functional gut disorders and nutrition, especially functional dyspepsia and abnormal responses to food ingestion (i.e., postprandial symptoms). Current main research project is: “Factors that determine responses to food ingestion in health and in functional gastrointestinal disorders”. (Fellowship Director: Prof. Fernando Azpiroz).
Robert Lustig
USA
Robert Lustig
Robert H. Lustig, M.D., M.S.L. is Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, and Member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF. Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, with expertise in metabolism, obesity, and nutrition. He is one of the leaders of the current “anti-sugar” movement that is changing the food industry. Dr. Lustig graduated from MIT in 1976, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He also received his Masters of Studies in Law (MSL) degree at University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2013. He is the author of the popular books Fat Chance (2012), The Hacking of the American Mind (2017), and the just released book Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine,. He is the Chief Science Officer of the non-profit Eat REAL, he is on the Advisory Board of the Center for Humane Technology, Simplex Health, and Levels Health, and he is the Chief Medical Officer of BioLumen Technologies, Foogal, Perfact, and Kalin Health.
Eva Niv
Israel
Eva Niv
Dr.Eva Niv is the Head of Gastroenterology and Advanced Nutrition Clinic, Assuta Medical center, and the Head of Capsule Endoscopy Center, Best Medical center.
Dr. Niv received her M.D. diploma from Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University in 1998. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine in Meir Hospital, Gastroenterology and Clinical Nutrition residency in Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical center. Her major areas of expertise are Clinical Nutrition, Malabsorption and Capsule endoscopy. She has great experience in the nutritional treatment of complex patients with cancer, IBD, malabsorption, short bowel syndrome, IBS, chronic pancreatitis, and more. She is one of the leading Israeli experts in the field of capsule endoscopy. During the last years, along with the clinical work, Dr. Eva Niv is one of the developers of new generations of capsules and other medical devices in the field of gastroenterology as a GI expert in Clinical R@D of Medtronic company. She has more than 30 publications in leading journals in the field of Gastroenterology and Clinical Nutrition.
Homie Razavi
USA
Homie Razavi
Homie A. Razavi is the founder and managing director at the Center for Disease Analysis Foundation. Since 2008, Homie has led a team of epidemiologists and modellers to quantify the epidemiology of hepatitis, forecast the future disease burden and help countries develop national strategies. His team has been responsible for the development of a number of mathematical models currently used by countries to develop intervention strategies for hepatitis B & C. In addition, his team has developed the Polaris Observatory, which collects and reports HCV, HBV, and HDV epidemiology, and disease burden and treatment rates for all countries.
Amir Shlomai
Israel
Amir Shlomai
Prof. Amir Shlomai graduated from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in 2001/2002. After a year of rotating internship at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, he moved to Professor Yosef Shaul’s laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science where he studies the molecular biology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) for several years and earned both Master (with distinction) and PhD degrees. Dr. Shlomai was the first to show that the then newly-discovered RNA interference phenomenon could be used as an efficient anti-HBV tool. In addition, Prof. Shlomai discovered that HBV expression is significantly influenced by metabolic and nutritional cues that mediate major hepatic metabolic processes, thereby acting as a “metabolovirus”. During the following years Prof. Shlomai completed his residencies in both Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology and Liver diseases at Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel, where he also headed his own research group. In July 2012 Prof. Shlomai joined the lab of Professor Charles M. Rice at the Rockefeller University and appointed an Instructor in Clinical Investigation as a part of the Clinical Scholar program. At Professor Rice’s lab, his research focused on developing novel tissue culture systems for studying hepatitis B virus biology and on exploiting the CRISPR/Cas9 system as an anti-HBV strategy. After two years at Rockefeller, Prof. Shlomai has returned to Israel and joined the Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson campus) as the head of the hepatitis service and from October 2015 he is the head of the Department of Medicine D in this hospital. His current research interests focus on the role of HBV infection in liver carcinogenesis. He is certified to practice medicine in Israel and is Israeli board certified in Internal Medicine and in Gastroenterology and Liver diseases. Prof. Shlomai is also ECFMG certified. He is a faculty member at an associate professor degree of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University. He is a member of the IRB committee of Rabin Medical center, the secretary of the Israeli Association for the Study of the Liver and a member of the national committee for gastroenterology and nutrition.
Ravid Straussman
Israel
Ravid Straussman
Dr. Ravid Straussman graduated from the MD/Ph.D. program of Hadassah Medical School, Israel, and did his medical internship at Rabin Medical Center. In 2013, after completing a post-doc at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, he joined the Weizmann Institute as a principal investigator. The Straussman lab studies the tumor microenvironment and the tumor microbiome with a special focus on how non-cancer components in the tumor microenvironment affect the response of cancer cells to cytotoxic, targeted, and immune-mediated anti-cancer therapies.
Bella Ungar
Israel
Bella Ungar
Dr. Bella Ungar is a senior gastroenterologist at Sheba Medical Center. She specializes in IBD and has been extensively involved in basic science and clinical research in IBD immunology and pathology at Birmingham University, UK and Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Elez Vainer
Israel
Elez Vainer
Dr. Elez Vainer is a senior physician in the Gastroenterology department at Hadassah Medical Center. She has received her medical degree from the Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Meir Medical Center, and continued to a gastroenterology fellowship in Hadassah Medical Center.
Today she is in charge of the gastro-genetic clinic in Hadassah Medical Center
She’s involved in clinical and basic research in the field of proteomics and IBD and hereditary cancer.
Sergei Vosko
Israel
Sergei Vosko
Sergei is a Senior Doctor at Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Shamir Medical Center in Israel.
He recently finished his interventional endoscopy fellowship at Westmead Hospital, Sydney Australia, under supervision of Prof. Michael Bourke. Over his two years of training, Sergei had developed theoretical knowledge and clinical skills in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), endoscopic mucosal resection and thirdspace endoscopy including endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) and submucosal tunnelling endoscopic resection (STER).
Sergei’s main interest is enhancement of optical evaluation accuracy and tissue resection safety and efficacy of premalignant and malignant lesions of Gastrointestinal tract.
Oded Zmora
Israel
Oded Zmora
Colon and Rectal Surgeon, chair, Department of Surgery, Shamir Medical Center, Israel. Associate professor of surgery, Tel Aviv University School of Medicine.
Education and training include residency in general surgery at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel and the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, U.S.A., and clinical followed by research fellowships at the Cleveland Clinic Florida, USA (1999-2001).
Past president of the Israel Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, immediate past chair of the S-ECCO (Surgeons’ European Crohn and Colitis Organization) and elected president in waiting of the ESCP (European Society of Coloproctology). Past co-editor of Techniques in Coloproctology, and currently an editorial advisory board member of Colorectal Diseases.
Main research interests focus on colorectal surgery including surgical infectious complications, prevention of colorectal cancer metastases, surgery of IBD, treatment perineal fistulas, and clinical research in colon and rectal surgery.
Papers in peer reviewed journals- 125
Book chapters- 8
Invited lectures in national and international meetings: 55
Organizing committee of national and international meetings- 20