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Wayne State University students Evan Sell, Sarah Wolf, Mike Warren, Rebecca
Kornas, Will Nettleton and Amer Afaneh with Dr. Eliezer Shalev, dean of the
Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
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52
April 26 2012
vow
Nov
Trading Places
Program gives WSU medical students
experience with patients in Israel.
Jen Harte
Special to the Jewish News
W
ayne State University
senior medical student
Sarah Wolf of Ann Arbor
had always wanted to go to Israel.
So when she had an opportunity to
participate in the School of Medicine's
new Detroit-Israel Medical Student
Exchange Program, she jumped at the
chance.
"I have wanted to visit Israel since
my brother went on a Taglit-Birthright
Israel Trip in 2007:' she said. "As a
part of the Detroit-Israel Exchange
Program, I could visit the country,
experience medicine and apply my
medical knowledge!'
Wolf, born in Korea, was adopted
by a Jewish family and converted to
Judaism. "I was raised celebrating
Jewish holidays and going to syna-
gogue at Temple Beth Emeth in Ann
Arbor?'
During the exchange in February,
Wolf learned that many aspects of
medicine translate across cultural and
national boundaries.
"I now realize that patients and
doctors have to understand, at least
partially, each other's backgrounds to
understand the whole person and thus
treat the whole person!"
This new initiative of Wayne State's
School of Medicine is designed to
expose participants to an environ-
ment where patients from diverse
backgrounds receive health care in a
medical system different from those in
the United States.
William Lyman, Ph.D., professor
and associate chairman of pediatrics
and director of the Children's Research
Center of Michigan, who serves as co-
director of the program with Maryjean
Schenk, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., vice dean
for medical education, believes that
the exchange is an important part
of Wayne State's commitment to the
populations it serves in Michigan.
"Providing enriching educational
experiences such as these can only
prove to be an important benefit for
everyone in the community," he said.
Six students were the first to par-
ticipate in the program and travel
to Israel. They were Amer Afaneh,
Rebecca Kornas, William Nettleton,
Evan Sell, Michael Warren and Wolf.
The students rotated at Rambam
Health Care Campus in Haifa, affili-
ated with the Technion-Israel Institute
of Technology. The Technion is Israel's
oldest public university and home to
three Nobel laureates.
Nettleton participated in the pro-
gram because it provided an opportu-
nity to see health care practiced in a
different environment and a different
style of academic and clinical medicine.
He spent his time at Rambam rotat-
ing in in-patient pediatrics and see-
ing patients in the pediatric diabetes
clinic. He said the experience had a
profound impact because it reinforced
his belief that it is a privilege to take
care of people from all different back-
grounds.
"People share things with physicians
that they would not share with others:'
he said. "We are with people when they
are most vulnerable'
The Detroit-Israel Medical Student
Exchange Program is a growing initia-
tive at Wayne State. The program is
bi-directional — students from Israel
came to Wayne State last fall. The uni-
versity also established an exchange
partnership with Hebrew University
in Jerusalem.Wayne State students
will train at hospitals affiliated with
Hebrew University at Hadassah Mount
Scopus, Ein Kerem and Shaare Zedek
medical centers later this year.
❑
Jen Harte is director of development
communications at Wayne State University.