Birthplace: Tiberias, Israel
Birthdate: July 23, 1947
1965: Matriculation, Tiberias
1965–70: Military service
1972–77: M.D. degree, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem
1978: Internship, Hadassah University Hospital
1979–86: Resident, Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah University Hospital
1982–85: Ophthalmic Consultant, Mbabane Government Hospital, Mbabane, Swaziland, per the Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah University Hospital and the Department of International Cooperation of the Foreign Office, Israel
1985–90: Chief Resident, Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah University Hospital
1985–90: In charge of teaching ophthalmology to medical students in the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem
1987: Ocular Angiogenesis and Neovascularization Laboratory, Hadassah University Hospital
1988: Board specialization in Ophthalmology (#10061)
1988: Senior staff member, Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah University Hospital
1988: Lecturer in Ophthalmology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem
1989: Advanced studies in vitreoretinal surgery, Holland and Germany
1990: Lecture tour and surgical demonstrations, Nairobi, Kenya - at the request of the Government of Kenya and the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel
1991: Advanced studies in vitreoretinal surgery, Germany
1992: Member of the board, 2nd International Symposium on Ocular Trauma, Geneva, Switzerland
1996: Senior Lecturer in Ophthalmology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem
2002: Chairman of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School Division of Ophthalmology
2003: Instructional courses and organization of the Eye Department, Maseru, Swaziland – at the request of the Government of Swaziland and the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel
2003: Chairman of the Center for Retinal Diseases, Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah University Hospital
2004: Advanced studies in vitreoretinal surgery, Germany
Main Fields of Interest:
Vitreoretinal microsurgery
· Vitrectomy for the management of diabetic retinopathy, intraocular foreign body, intraocular trauma, vitreoretinal proliferation.
· Silicone oil and gases for tamponade of large retinal tears and retinal detachment associated with proliferative vitreoretinopathy.
Excimer laser in ophthalmology
· Optical recording of electrophysiological responses of the eye with femto second laser
· Molecular characterization and diagnosis in a live eye, confocal near and infrared laser raman scattering
· Laser beam application in refractive surgery
· Laser beam application in vitreoretinal surgery
Ocular neovascularization:
· Angiogenic factors in intraocular tumors and ischemic eye disease
· Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induced by hypoxia - a possible mediator of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and intraocular tumors.
Development of new surgical techniques
· Articulated arm for use with the excimer laser for intraocular surgery
· Rotating beam attachment for use with the excimer laser in refractive surgery
· The use of a silicone strip to prevent enlargement of the sclerotomy wound in vitreous surgery
Academic Activities
· Teaching of surgical and clinical retina and vitreous, the Israel Ophthalmological Society
· Participant in teaching of Israeli and Diploma Course in Ophthalmology residents, and in charge of teaching vitreoretinal surgery, Hadassah University Hospital
· Participant in lecturing to ophthalmologists, in the Continuing Education in Ophthalmology program, Tel Aviv University Medical School
· Examiner - Israel Board in Ophthalmology
Membership in Professional Organizations
· Israel Medical Association
· Israel Ophthalmological Society
· Israel Society for Eye and Vision Research
· American Academy of Ophthalmology
· Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Registered patents
· A method and a device for cold laser microsurgery with highly localized tissue removal
· Rotating beam attachment for the excimer laser for refractive surgery
List of Publications (since 2002)
1. Upalakalin, J.N., Hemo, I., Dehio, C., Keshet, E., and Benjamin, L.E.: Survival mechanisms of VEGF and PIGF during microvascular remodeling. Cold Springs Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology 67:181-187, 2002.
2. Sarrazin, L., Averbukh, E., Halpert, M., Hemo, I., and Rumelt, S.: Traumatic pediatric retinal detachment: A comparison between open and closed globe injuries. American Journal of Ophthalmology 137:1042-1049, 2004.
3. Banin, E., Obolensky, A., Idelson, M., Hemo, I., Reinhardtz, E., Pikarsky, E., Ben-Hur, T., and Reubinoff, B.: Retinal incorporation and differentiation of neural precursors derived from human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells 24:246-257, 2006. E-pub ahead of publication: August 25, 2005.
4. Rumelt, S., Sarrazin, L., Averbukh, E., Halpert, M., and Hemo, I.: Paediatric vs adult retinal detachment. Eye 21:1473-1478, 2007. E-pub ahead of publication: July 28, 2006.
5. Vicuna-Kojchen, J., Banin, E., Averbukh, E., Barzel, I., Shulman, M., Hemo, I., Pe'er, J., and Chowers, I.: Application of the standard photodynamic treatment protocol for symptomatic circumscribed choroidal hemangioma. Ophthalmologica 220:351-355, 2006.
6. Cervantes-Castaneda, R.A., Banin, E., Hemo, I., Shpigel, M., Averbukh, E., and Chowers, I.: Lack of benefit of early awareness to age-related macular degeneration. EYE 22:777-781, 2008. E-pub ahead of publication: January 12, 2007.
7. Zeira, E., Manevitch, A., Manevitch, Z., Kedar, E., Gropp, M., Daudi, N., Barsuk, R., Harati, M., Yotvat, H., Troilo, P.J., Griffiths T.G., Pacchione, S.J., Roden, D.F., Niu, Z., Nussbaum, O., Zamir, G., Papo, O., Hemo, I., Lewis, A., and Galun, E.: Femtosecond laser: a new intradermal DNA delivery method for efficient, long-term gene expression and genetic immunization. FASEB J. 21:3522-2533, 2007. E-pub ahead of print: June 15, 2007.
8. Orucov, F., Galbinur, T., Frenkel, S., Landau, D., Solomon, A., Hemo, Y., Frucht-Pery, J., and Chowers, I.: Prevalence of clinical asymptomatic retinal detachment in myopic population. British Journal of Ophthalmology (accepted June 2008). E-pub ahead of print: August 14, 2008.
9. Chowers, I., Cohen, Y., Goldenberg-Cohen, N., Vicuna-Kojchen, J., Lichtinger, A., Weinstein, O., Pollack, A., Axer-Siegel, A., Hemo, I., Averbukh, E., Banin, E., Meir, T., and Lederman, M.: Association of complement factor H Y402H polymorphism with phenotype of neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Israel. Molecular Vision 14:1829-1834, 2008.
10. Chowers, I., Meir, T., Lederman, M., Goldenberg-Cohen, N., Cohen, Y., Banin, E., Averbukh, E., Hemo, I., Pollack, A., Axer-Siegel, R., Weinstein, O., Hoh, J., Zack, D.J., and Galbinur, T.: Sequence variants in HTRA1 and LOC387715/ARMS2 and phenotype and response to photodynamic therapy in neovascular age-related macular degeneration in populations from Israel. Molecular Vision 14:2263-2271, 2008.
11. Galbinur, T., Averbukh, E., Banin, E., Hemo, I., and Chowers, I.: Intravitreal bevacizumab therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration associated with poor initial visual acuity. British Journal of Ophthalmology 93:1351-1352, 2009. E-pub ahead of print: June 10, 2009.
12. Idelson, M., Alper, R., Obolensky, A., Ben-Shushan, E., Hemo, I., Yachimovich-Cohen, N., Khaner, H., Smith, Y., Wiser, O., Gropp, M., Cohen, M.A., Even-Ram, S., Berman-Zaken, Y., Matzrafi, L., Rechavi, G., Banin, E., and Reubinoff, B.: Directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into functional retinal pigment epithelium cells. Cell Stem Cell 5:396-408, 2009.
13. Kramer, M., Axer-Siegel, R., Jaouni, T., Reich, U., Hemo, I., Priel, E., Averbukh, E., Ehrlich, R., Chowers, I., Weinberger, D., and Amer, R.: Bevacizumab for choroidal neovascularization (CNV) related to inflammatory diseases. Retina (in press, 2010). E-pub ahead of print: February 17, 2010.