Israeli Doctor Participates in New Resident Exchange Program

While Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine’s inaugural class won’t begin classes until Aug. 8, its new resident exchange program with the Emek Medical Center in Israel is already under way.

At the end of April, Shireen Hamed-Azzam, M.D., arrived from Israel to begin three months of subspecialty rotations at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. These three months are part of her Ophthalmology Residency Program based at Emek Medical Center.

Dr. Hamed-Azzam, an Arab Muslim Israeli citizen, is fluent in three languages- Arabic, Hebrew and English. Her hospital- Emek Medical Center in Afula, serves a culturally diverse region comprised of Jews, Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs. The Northeastern Israeli hospital serves about 500,000 area residents of many faiths- Muslims, Christians, Jews and Druze. It is known as the “Hospital of Peace” and its philosophy is “coexistence through medicine.”

 “I’m very lucky. This is a very unique and valuable experience. I’m exposed to a new culture and new health care system. As the program’s first ambassador I feel a lot of responsibility."

- Dr. Hamed-Azzam

Says Robert Folberg, M.D., founding dean of the OUWB School of Medicine, “Dr. Hamed-Azzam is a remarkable person. We have a lot to learn from her and the Emek medical team, including how to serve a multicultural population. She’s been an excellent ambassador.”

The exchange program is a part of the “Memorandum of Understanding” announced in February between Emek and OUWB. It encourages collaborative research and the sharing of scientific knowledge between the two institutions. The memorandum calls for the exchange of administrators, faculty members and trainees in medicine at all levels. This is the first global academic partnership for the OUWB School of Medicine.

Emek is affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion University in Haifa, Israel.

Dr. Hamed-Azzam, 28, in her second year of residency, was both excited and anxious about being the first Israeli resident chosen to participate in the new collaboration. She had found out about the program from one of her mentors- Dr. Daniel Briscoe, chair of Ophthalmology, Emek Medical Center.

“At first, I had some concerns. Would my education and training be sufficient? Would I fit in with the other doctors and residents at Beaumont? And being separated from my husband,” recalls Dr. Hamed-Azzam. But shortly after arriving at Beaumont, she felt very welcome and more at ease.

“The people from Michigan are so friendly. The staff at Beaumont Hospital is very excited that I’m from Israel. The doctors are so nice,” says Dr. Hamed-Azzam.

In her first weeks at Beaumont, she came to find her training from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Emek is very good.

Dr. Hamed-Azzam is from Nazareth. She developed an interest in the field of medicine in her early teens. After a family car accident, she spent a lot of time in the hospital watching the attentive medical staff. That experience, along with television’s “ER” and “House” convinced her she wanted to help others as a doctor.

Her parents both work in the travel industry. Dr. Hamed-Azzam’s father owns a hotel in Nazareth. She has three sisters and a younger brother. Her three sisters are also studying to become doctors and are in medical school. Dr. Hamed-Azzam’s husband is a physician too, an internist and endocrinologist.

Like Canada, Israel’s health care is socialized medicine. Israeli medical students must participate in a five-year residency program. After completing her residency, Dr. Hamed-Azzam plans on participating in an ophthalmology subspecialty fellowship program.

While at Beaumont, Royal Oak, she has already been able to work with and learn from renowned retinal specialists Drs. Michael Trese and Antonio Capone. Beaumont has the world’s largest pediatric retinal program. She is also working with Dr. George Williams, chief, Ophthalmology and director, Beaumont Eye Institute; and Dr. Robert Granadier, director, Ophthalmology Residency Program.

“The first day with Dr. Trese, we saw patients from Jordan, Brazil and Italy,” says Dr. Hamed-Azzam.

She also meets periodically with Dr. Folberg, M.D., a pathologist and ophthalmologist.

“I see diseases here that I won’t see in Israel,” explains Dr. Hamed-Azzam. “I’m very lucky. This is a very unique and valuable experience. I’m exposed to a new culture and new health care system. As the program’s first ambassador I feel a lot of responsibility. Despite being so far from my family and husband, it has been very worthwhile. I’m having a good time here.”