Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University
Supporting the world's largest Jewish University
What do we do exactly?
The Canadian Friends seek to increase local awareness of Tel Aviv University's excellence in academic and research programs and to provide financial support through fundraising. It also encourages exchanges between professors in Canada and Israel and facilitates a student program for Canadians wishing to study in Israel.
Ronald Zuker, who practices plastic and reconstructive surgery at SickKids, left, and Benjamin Meilik, a Medical Exchange Program fellow, confer in the atrium of SickKids. [Hospital for Sick Children photo]
Blowing our horn.
Promoting ground breaking research of international stature
The cause of one of the most debilitating diseases. A method to produce unlimited supplies of insulin-generating cells. A battery that lasts 400% longer than any now in use. Surgical implants that safely dissolve in the body. Chemotherapy that only kills cancer cells and leaves healthy ones alone. These are just a few of the ways TAU is repairing the world one scientific breakthrough at a time.
With faculty engaged in 5,000 ongoing projects, TAU is Israel's most comprehensive research center. Where other institutions may shine in a specialty, TAU's diverse curriculum enables rich, cross-disciplinary research that brings together the brightest minds.
Toronto Friends of Tel Aviv University has played an important role in promoting medical research at TAU by supporting a Medical Exchange Program (MEP) between Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine and Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). This MEP, which began in 2003, aims to provide and enhance opportunities for interactions between scientists and clinicians at both institutions.
To date, Toronto Friends of Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University (CFTAU) has distributed $650,000 to four programs: oncology, immunodeficiency, maternal and fetal toxicology, and plastic surgery and microsurgery.
The cooperation between Dr. Ronald Zuker, the co-director of the Facial Paralysis Clinic at SickKids, and Dr. Eyal Gur from Tel-Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine, demonstrates the impact of this unique program on medical teaching and health care delivery in Israel.
Dr. Eyal Gur, the head of the microsurgery unit and the cleft lip and palate team in the plastic and reconstructive surgery department in Tel-Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center, was originally trained by Dr. Zuker at SickKids. He has gone on to build an Israeli referral center for complex reconstructive surgery where Israeli patients who require specialized plastic and microsurgery due to cancer, trauma and congenital anomalies such as cleft lip and palate are treated.
The highly specialized and complex nature of this work requires Dr. Gur to keep abreast of clinical and scientific developments in reconstructive plastic surgery. The MEP has provided an opportunity for Dr. Gur's students to work closely with prominent surgeons at SickKids and to gain invaluable clinical hands-on experience at the most advanced center for pediatric plastic surgery and microsurgery in the world.
Dr. Leshem, who completed two years of training at SickKids, is now teaching medical students at TAU and providing expert clinical care at the Sourasky Medical Center. Dr Meilik (shown in the picture) has completed his training with Dr. Zuker and returned to Israel to work with Dr. Gur and Dr. Leshem. The MEP supplemented this medical student training by sending prominent Canadian plastic surgeons to Tel-Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center to give lectures and demonstrations of advanced surgical techniques.
Based on the initial success of the Medical Exchange Program with SickKids, the Dean of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine asked CFTAU to expand the program to include the following high priority projects:
- Treatment and studies of children with diabetes.
- Studies of cortical adaptive changes following cochlear implants.
- Studies of renal stem cells for the development of kidneys.
- Biogenesis of organelles for the immune defense system.
- Neuroimaging for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
By supporting the Medical Exchange Program, you will support international cooperation between leading medical researchers in Canada and TAU faculty. This cooperation will help advance the international stature of TAU and will help improve medical expertise and patient care in Israel.