2019 MJB Health Advisory Team Visit

by Jonah Goldberg

This month, the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute’s Smokler Center for Health Policy Research hosted representatives from its Health Advisory Team (HAT). This partnership, established in 1986, has allowed Smokler Center researchers to share ideas and experience with international health professionals and improve the quality and impact of their work. 

Four team members arrived this year from two countries:

• Team Director Dr. Gary Freed, a professor of paediatrics and of health management and policy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as well as a previous director of the Australian Health Workforce Institute

• Dr. Bruce Landon, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School and of medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

• Dr. Raphael Wittenberg, a Principal Research Fellow in the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the London School of Economics, as well as the Deputy Director of the Centre For Health Service Economics And Organisation

• Dr. Fiona Sim, a lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Visiting Professor at the University of Bedfordshire, as well as the Chair of the Royal Society for Public Health

The visit kicked off on Monday, June 10th with an overview of recent developments in Israeli health care (link to upcoming article), presented by Brookdale researchers Ira Yaari and Ruth Waitzberg. The presentation discussed digital access to medical information and services being added to Israel’s health basket, among other issues. Following that, the HAT members met in small groups with Brookdale members to discuss their current projects. In one meeting, researchers Tamar Medina Artom and Bat-Sheva Hass worked with Dr. Landon on their study of patient-centred care in fertility clinics (link: https://brookdale.jdc.org.il/en/publication/patient-centered-care-fertility-treatment/); drawing from his own work building quality cooperatives between health service providers to help them improve their quality of care, Landon outlined ways Brookdale could encourage clinics to be open about the study’s results and learn from other clinics’ approach toward patients. Later, Ministry of Health Deputy Director-General Vadim Perman visited to lead a meeting about the next decade of health issues and trends, including pressures on the hospital system and the changes needed to service Israel’s aging population.

On Tuesday, the HAT members and several Brookdale staff headed to Tel Aviv to visit Meuhedet and Maccabi Tech, two prominent medical research institutes.

The meetings discussed the companies’ extensive data banks—Maccabi is currently building a platform to quickly comb through longitudinal data from 2.5 million patients—and potential partnerships for current and future Brookdale studies.

Wednesday’s program began with a meeting on health policy and the Arab population.

Finally, Dr. Landon closed out the visit by presenting tips on analyzing primary and secondary data, discussing contrasts between the types and guidelines to adapt a study’s questions to data that were not collected for research originally.

The Health Advisory Team’s annual visit is always both beneficial and inspiring. Dr. Freed stresses the value of the “collaborative learning and continuous improvement” that an international partnership creates. Furthermore, mentoring and supporting Brookdale is especially rewarding. Asked why he took on the role of team director, Freed answered, “I believe in the mission of Brookdale to make a difference in the lives of the people of Israel.”