Israel Active

Eye specialist Dr Sid Shechet of Baltimore’s Elman Retina Group is volunteering for two weeks at the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva.  He has been operating non-stop for more than twelve hours daily, helping to restore vision to severely wounded soldiers and anyone else in need.

Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have developed an algorithm to help identify which antibodies, that work on animals, can be adapted for human use. Their CUMAb, algorithm generates 20,000 variants of a mouse antibody and predicts which are most stable.

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has partnered with Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) to expand the mental health support provided to trauma-suffering war victims. FIDF Funds will help train new Shaba therapists to work in IDF veterans' rehabilitation centers across the country.

Israel’s Health Ministry and Nefesh B'Nefesh arranged for hundreds of physicians to fly to Israel to help those in need following Oct. 7. Many world-renowned specialists left their lucrative jobs, families, and children behind to come to Israel and boost the medical system.

As a boy, Yechial witnessed a bus explode, which motivated him to become a volunteer United Hatzalah EMT. He has helped at many tragedies: Miron, Ukraine, Hurricane Ian, Turkey, Morocco, and Oct 7. One of the last lives he saved was a dog. He now trains therapy dogs, to help others overcome trauma.

Netanya’s Laniado Hospital has opened a brand-new playroom, courtesy of Toys for Simcha, based in Brooklyn. Happy Kids Heal Faster,” said Rabbi J.J. Hecht II, president of Toys for Simcha. Hundreds of the 8,000 evacuees living in Netanya have been treated at Laniado.

Israel’s Insightec has announced Exablate Prime - the next generation of MR-guided focused ultrasound with many new features for incisionless neurosurgery. It comes as the US military and the Dutch government have approved Insightec for essential tremor therapy.

Researchers at Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University have discovered the impact of a genetic defect that causes Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) in children. They hope that their findings will lead to a cure to a dangerous form of sleep apnea.

The Israel ALS Research Association IsrA.L.S. It has worked with Israel’s D-ID (see previously) to develop a virtual avatar for Debbie, a woman with ALS who can only move her eye muscles.  The AI technology recreated Debbie’s image, voice, facial and lip movements.

Doctors at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital used a 3D printer from Israel’s Stratasys to reconstruct the fractured knee of wounded IDF soldier Shilo Segev. The printer model identified a lack of upper thigh bone which surgeons rebuilt using bone from Shilo’s pelvis.