By Lonye Rasch
Delivering Hope and Compassion in Hadassah’s Department of Pediatrics
After 11 years at the helm of the Department of Pediatrics at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, Prof. Shimon Reif retired from his post at the end of June.
Encapsulating how he sees Hadassah, he says, “We are a tertiary hospital, so we treat the most unique and complex diseases.” He adds, “The moment patients come to us, they become part of the Hadassah family. We give the best care to the children.”
Through the course of his tenure, Prof. Reif has witnessed a rise in children suffering clinical symptoms that arise from social problems, such as abuse. He emphasizes the importance of hospital staff exhibiting sympathy for the children and their families and being patient in explaining the medical situation and necessary treatments.
For Prof. Reif, bedside teaching for medical students is key. “You can’t just learn from books,” he says. That’s why he accompanied his students on patient rounds each day.
In reflecting on what the future holds for the practice of medicine, Prof. Reif hopes that “there will be a balance between humanity and artificial intelligence.”
Prof. Reif is not retiring from medicine, however. He very much remains a prolific physician/researcher. A pediatric gastroenterologist, he continues his research in that specialty. Recently, he and his research team have been exploring the potential to harness the natural healing power of a component in human breast milk to boost the immune systems of patients with various immune-related inflammatory disorders, such as Crohn’s disease and colitis. The technology, developed in Hadassah’s pediatrics laboratory, isolates bovine milk nanoparticles called exosomes, which accumulate in breast milk and play an important role in the healthy development of a baby’s immune system. These exosomes contain beneficial microRNA that has been shown to suppress inflammation in a model of hepatic fibrosis, Prof. Reif says.
EXOSOMM, the biotech/food startup company that is further developing the technology, is collaborating with Ba’emek Tech, a subsidiary of Tnuva Food Industries, one of Israel’s leading producers of fresh dairy products, to retrieve the exosomes from the whey left over during cheesemaking.
“We are almost ready to start a clinical trial,” Prof. Reif relates. His vision is that this breakthrough will bring relief and improve the quality of life for millions of people suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases, as well as the millions more with diabetes and other metabolic disorders. The first clinical trials will begin with adults, he explains, as is research protocol. But the vision is for children with Crohn’s disease and other gastrointestinal problems to be treated with these exosomes as well, strengthening their immune systems.