Dr. Hadad Completes 3 months of research rotation at the Eye Center as part of the UMass Ben Gurion Student Exchange Program

Aviel Hadad, M.D., M.P.H. enjoyed the last 3 months in a research rotation at the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the UMass Chan Medical School, as part of the UMass Ben Gurion exchange program.  Dr. Hadad is originally from Kibbutz Keramim in southern Israel. He is married and is a father to three children.  He earned his Master degree and his Medical Degree from the Hebrew University at Jerusalem, Israel. Currently, he is a 5th year (last year) resident in department of ophthalmology at Soroka, the major hospital in southern Israel, affiliated with Ben-Gurion University.

During his time at UMass Chan Medical School, he embarked on an original research study. He investigated the correlation of chronic exposure to a specific drug, Elmiron, to possible changes in the retinal pigment epithelium, and retinal toxicity. His work focused on developing novel analytic tools of advanced imaging modalities, and developing new quantification methods that allow discovery of drug toxicity in patients. This work is the first of its kind, and could help in the future identification of drug toxicity to the retina. His method can be used not only for this drug, but for many other drugs as well. His is now summarizing my results in a manuscript that will be submitted to the prestigious journal: Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Sciences (IOVS). He will also present part of this original work at the Retina Society Annual Meeting in London in September 2019. 

During his 3 months at UMass, Dr. Hadad was most impressed by the collaborative research environment, in which he thrived and learned tremendously. He learned from numerous mentors and teachers, and was an active part of interesting scientific and clinical discussions, and Vision Seminars. His most influential mentor was Dr. Shlomit Schaal, Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at UMass, who generously shared her passion for research and her desire to teach. His experience at UMass was indeed so meaningful and inspiring, that he is now seriously considering embarking on a PhD program to further his research knowledge and skills. 

This precious opportunity was possible only thanks to the generous donation from Frederick Krupp Medical Education Fund. Dr. Hadad and his mentor, Dr. Schaal would like to express their deepest gratitude and appreciation to the family of Mr. Frederick Krupp for their generous support of this significant professional experience. 

“I am very grateful to all the people from the UMass Chan Medical School and from Ben-Gurion University who made all this a reality. Specifically, I am thankful to Prof. Tova Lifshitz, Chair of Ophthalmology at Soroka and Dr. Erez Tsumi, Deputy Director, for their encouragement and support that allowed me to enjoy this remarkable period”, said Dr. Hadad.