i Sp Jciait ME D C 5,4 kt. A Heartbeat Away from page 11 Because one of Folberg's specialties is ophthalmology, Rich asked if he knew Dr. Daniel Briscoe, who had become chair- man and head of Emek's ophthalmology department in June 2009. While Folberg didn't know him, it turned out a close friend at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem had been one of Briscoe's mentors and spoke highly of him and Emek. Another close friend, Ido Perlman, then dean of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, also knew Briscoe because Emek is one of Technion's teaching hospitals. These connections led Folberg to begin corresponding directly with Briscoe. At the same time, it turned out that because of Detroit's strong support for Technion, Perlman had been asked to visit Detroit. While here, he met with Folberg, Oakland University President Gary Russi and Provost Virinder Moudgil. "Ido Perlman said, You must go to this hospital in Afula; it is a wonderful hospi- tal:" Folberg recalled." (Andwhat I would really like is to have some kind of col- laboration, a link, between your medical school and the hospital in Afula:" Things continued to build from there. Shortly afterward, Folberg, Russi, Moudgil and other OU leaders were invited by the Michigan-Israel Business Bridge (MIBB) to travel to Israel, and they asked to visit Emek. When Briscoe learned of the visit, he jumped at the chance to organize a symposium featuring Folberg. Zionism compelled Briscoe to move to Israel in 1988 from Dublin, Ireland, where, in a curious bit of Jewish history, both his grandfather and father had served as Lord Mayor. Briscoe trained as a general ophthalmologist at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva and remembered very well a lecture during his residency that Folberg had given there in 1991. "It was engraved in my memory because it taught me so much',' he said. "It gave me a great interest in clinical pathology" Upping Ernek's Status So during the MIBB trip last May, Emek hosted northern Israel's first Ophthalmic Pathology Symposium, with Folberg as its guest lecturer. Some 140 ophthalmology specialists and residents from across Israel attended, which was unique for Emek. A few Israeli medical schools even canceled classes so students and faculty could attend. "We are a little bit off the beaten path',' Briscoe said. "We're seen as less attrac- tive than all the other university hospitals because we're outside of the starry lights of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The whole northeast of Israel is coming on, but it needs to be developed. It's one of the major challenges in Israel today, especially in the medical field. "But when Bob came, it changed the perception," Briscoe continued. "Now we don't have enough residencies to fill all the applications. We had to turn away some very outstanding people." Briscoe candidly admits that the popu- lation of the north is "medically under- served:' While in Tel Aviv it might take 10-14 days to be admitted to a hospital or clinic, in the north it can take twice as long. Established in 1924, today Emek is a community hospital with 500 beds, 60 outpatient clinics and 25 medical depart- ments serving a culturally rich popula- tion of more than 500,000 people almost Dr. Robert Folberg with Dr. Daniel Briscoe, chair of ophthalmology, Emek Medical Center, Israel, and Dr. Jeffrey Devries, director, Graduate Medical Education, Beaumont Hospitals, in the Marcia & Eugene Applebaum Surgical Learning Center at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, in mid-February. equally divided between Jews and Arabs. The multi-ethnic staff of 1,900 includes 300 physicians, 700 nurses, 100 academics and support personnel. Its unique characteristics make it known as the "Hospital of Peace,' and it has adopted a guiding philosophy of "coexistence through medicine:' Valuable Partners The official announcement says the agree- ment between Emek and OUWB "encour- ages collaborative research and the sharing of scientific knowledge between the two institutions and leveraging the medical expertise of both institutions to advance the science and practice of medicine." Each institution also brings valuable partners: Emek brings its affiliation with Technion's Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. OUWB brings the Beaumont Hospitals in Royal Oak, Troy and Grosse Pointe. Dr. Jeffrey Devries, OUWB's associate dean for medical education, is looking at how the exchange can improve teaching. "We are looking at how training differs between the two countries, comparing and contrasting, and at doing research projects that involve trying different ways and see- ing which are most effective He foresees Emek researchers con- necting electronically with Beaumont Other Local Links With Israel U-M and WSU also make connections to Israel's medical schools and hospitals. he University of Michigan has a Memorandum of Understanding with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa as part of its medical school's Global REACH (International Research, Education and Cooperation in Health) project. "The Memorandum essentially con- cerns educational and research initia- tives in the area of cardiovascular medical engineering," says Dr. David Pinsky, director of U-M Hospital's Cardiovascular Center and professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. He says the Memorandum is "very research intensive," which works because "the Technion has world-class 12 i y scientists and we have a world-lead- ing cardiovascular engineering and research department." He singled out local philanthropist D. Dan Kahn and his family for their involvement, calling them "wonderful benefactors." Pinsky visited the Technion last summer, and a Technion medical stu- dent was in Ann Arbor last fall doing rotations at the U-M Hospital. He says teams of researchers from both insti- tutions are currently reviewing appli- cations in order to fund and conduct joint research projects. Last November, a Wayne State University delegation returned from Israel with initial memoranda of understandings for medical student exchanges with three Israeli universi- ties: Technion and its affiliates, Haifa's Rambam and Afula's Emek medi- cal centers; Hebrew University and its Hadassah Ein Kerem and Shaare Zedek medical centers in Jerusalem; and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva. William Lyman, Ph.D., a professor at WSU's School of Medicine and found- ing director of the Children's Research Center of Michigan at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, was part of the delegation. "Amongst other Israeli institutions, we clearly identified that the Technion and Hebrew University are great partners for us," he said. "We comple- ment each other's academic pursuits, and we are equally committed to the transfer of technology to support eco- nomic development." Until just last week, the plan was to send four fourth-year medical students to do month-long clinical electives at its Israeli partner institutions begin- ning in the 2011-2012 academic year, but current volatility in the region has put those plans on hold. Planning is under way for Israeli students to come to WSU-affiliated Detroit Medical Center (DMC) hospitals.