{"id":1952,"date":"2005-05-04T09:40:50","date_gmt":"2005-05-04T09:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2025-05-14T09:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T09:51:11","slug":"internal-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/?p=1952","title":{"rendered":"Internal Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By creating local ecosystems oriented toward healthier lifestyles, Bar-Ilan\u2019s pioneering public-health initiative is empowering Israel\u2019s North to emerge stronger after the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inclusivity","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"

The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE<\/h5>\n

Internal Medicine<\/h1>\n

By creating local ecosystems oriented toward healthier lifestyles, Bar-Ilan\u2019s pioneering public-health initiative is empowering Israel\u2019s North to emerge stronger after the war.<\/h3>\n

Home is Where the Health Is<\/h6>

In a recent survey of what Israel\u2019s nearly 100,000 displaced residents required to return to their northern homes, improved healthcare ranked second on the list\u2014before even a rehabilitated economy, and right after security. For Dr. Sivan Spitzer, deputy director of Bar-Ilan\u2019s ten-year initiative to move the needle on the health crisis in the Galilee, the results made perfect sense. \u201cWhen evacuees began to use the healthcare systems in their new places of residence, they realized the extent of the difference in accessibility and care from what they were used to back home,\u201d explained Spitzer. \u201cAnd most important, they realized the dramatic effects of better health on their overall quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The belief that better health is critical to advancing both individual and collective well-being and prosperity lies at the heart of the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE, whose unique ecosystem model for improving health outcomes brought the North closer to the center of the country during the course of the past year. With 60 different projects running in 23 municipalities\u2014\u201cwe didn\u2019t stop for a single moment,\u201d Spitzer says, \u201cdespite the daily rocket fire and constant uncertainty\u201d\u2014SPHERE continued and even expanded its efforts to help the region \u201clearn to speak a new language of health, one not confined to the doctor\u2019s office or necessarily colored by disease,\u201d Spitzer explains. As an example, she points to the new network of community kitchens and gardens SPHERE helped establish with municipalities, which associate healthful food choices with positive social and physical activity. Combined with the introduction of new walking trails, nutritional education in schools, and community gyms, SPHERE helped municipalities develop what she calls the \u201ccomplementary infrastructure\u201d that allows patients to implement the behaviors encouraged by the healthcare system.<\/p>\n\"Prof.\n

Above:<\/strong> The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE team (left to right): Deputy Director Dr. Sivan Spitzer, Director Prof. Naim Shehadeh, and COO Martin Duifhuize. Banner:<\/strong>\u00a0The SPHERE one-stop-shop Mobile Clinic for diabetes testing.<\/p>\n

The results of SPHERE\u2019s collaboration with that system demonstrate the importance of another of the initiative\u2019s guiding principles: preemption. In a pilot run jointly with Maccabi, one of Israel\u2019s four HMOs, clinics identified patients at risk for diabetes and proactively set appointments. Thanks to more frequent checkups, enrollment in free nutrition courses, and information on the recommended exercise guidelines, the North saw a 40 percent reduction in the rate of conversion to diabetes last year. And now that the ceasefire with Hezbollah has allowed SPHERE\u2019s one-stop-shop Mobile Clinic for diabetes testing onto the Galilee\u2019s roads, the initiative expects to see a similar drop in the rate of diabetes-related complications, which regular examinations can help prevent.<\/p>

Perhaps the biggest sign of SPHERE\u2019s victory, however, is its ability to retreat. \u201cOur 23 participating municipalities are doing such an exceptional job, we\u2019re starting to pull our assistance back and adopt new towns in the Galilee,\u201d Spitzer says. \u201cAlready, residents can return to a more empowered region, one capable of improving their health and their quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\"The\n

The inaugural cohort of SPHERE\u2019s course for northern imams celebrated their graduation at an event with SPHERE Director Prof. Naim Shehadeh and municipal liaison Nassim Assi, who served as instructor. The course was organized in collaboration with Col. (res.) Iyad Sarhan, director of the Religious Affairs Department at the Ministry of Interior, and Sheikh Ziad Abu Mokh, director of the department\u2019s Muslim Division.<\/p>\n

partners across six sectors (healthcare, municipal, NGOs, religious and community leaders, academia, and industry)<\/p>\n

residents of the periphery benefitting directly<\/p>\n

participating municipalities, a 35 percent increase from the previous year<\/p>\n

different projects in collaboration with healthcare systems, municipalities, schools, and local religious leaders<\/p>\n

participants in SPHERE\u2019s first three-month course for northern imams, which offered tools for encouraging healthy lifestyles in their communities, particularly during the month of Ramadan<\/p>\n

members of SPHERE\u2019s new online Physicians Forum, which helps family doctors improve their diabetes and obesity care through seminars, consultations with specialists, and discussions with their peers<\/p>\n

participants in SPHERE\u2019s first online Obesity-Management Seminar, a five-month course for healthcare professionals that teaches strategies for treating and managing obesity-related diseases and practical tips for helping patients make healthier choices about diet and exercise<\/p>\n

the annual rate of conversion to diabetes in the North as in the rest of the country<\/p>\n\"Dr.\n

Together with pharmaceutical partners including Novo Nordisk and Pfizer and researchers from Spain, Sweden, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, Dr. Sivan Spitzer of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine was awarded a collective \u20ac22 million grant from the European Union\u2019s Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) to develop a personalized digital platform for improving medication adherence among patients with cardio-metabolic disease. This marks the first time that a Bar-Ilan researcher has received the prestigious award.<\/p>\n

Maximizing Prescriptions\u2019 Impact<\/h6>

Both from lack of familiarity with new diabetes drugs and their patients\u2019 eligibility, northern family doctors often under-prescribe medications that can reduce complications from the disease. Thanks to the SPHERE Rx Calculator developed this past year, however, doctors can now input their patients\u2019 information and receive an updated list of medications covered by the relevant HMO. The calculator also includes information on drug interactions. \u201c30 percent of patients in the Galilee who should be receiving new medications do not receive them, despite these medications being covered by the national health insurance,\u201d said Prof. Naim Shehadeh, director of SPHERE, when explaining the importance of reducing pharmaceutical inequities. \u201cThe unique algorithm SPHERE developed allows doctors to significantly increase their prescriptions for improved patient outcomes. In light of the calculator\u2019s success, we are now developing additional Rx calculators for obesity and hyperlipidaemia.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Obesity\n

Graduates of SPHERE\u2019s first Obesity-Management Course for healthcare professionals celebrate their graduation at an event in July.<\/p>\n

Explaining the Fine Print<\/h6>

Through new funding from the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation, SPHERE is developing a digital platform that informs northern residents of their rights to new cardio-metabolic disease medications and care under Israeli law. Delivered in simple, easy-to-understand Hebrew or Arabic, the app also provides information on the medications themselves, offers the opportunity to consult with experts, and features an open community forum.<\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3039,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions\/3039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}