·               The diagnostic Clinical Microbiology service of the Hadassah-Hebrew University medical centers.

·               Specialist knowledge in support of the Infectious Diseases service, management of patients with special problems, hospital epidemiology and the prevention of infections, hygiene in the hospital, the development and pursuit of policies by management and support for purchasing and maintenance & construction divisions etc.

He completed his medical studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1972 and qualified as a specialist in medical microbiology in 1980. He immigrated to Israel with his family in March of the same year. He began practicing Clinical Microbiology at Hadassah until joining the Army in December 1982. He subsequently directed diagnostic microbiology laboratories at the Beilinson hospital in Petah Tiqva and the Chaim Sheba Medical Centre at Tel Hashomer, returning to Hadassah in early 1993.

His compulsory army service was spent in the area of public health and he took part in several major research projects in the field of gastroenteritis, especially bacillary dysentery. While at the Sheba Medical Centre, as director of the National Centre for Meningococci, he developed a research interest in meningococcal disease, which he still pursues, and established the national collection of meningococci isolated from patients. At the centre of his research activity since returning to Hadassah has been the topic of disinfection in terms of both the susceptibility of microorganisms and environmental disinfection.

Since taking responsibility for the Clinical Microbiology diagnostic service at Hadassah in 1994, he has overseen the introduction of new technologies particularly in the areas of blood cultures and tuberculosis and, in recent years, as part of the growing team of professionals in the Department, the introduction of molecular methods in the diagnosis of bacterial and other infections and in molecular epidemiology. He has served on many national committees and councils both in the Ministry of Health and other agencies such as the Standards Institute of Israel. He has also held positions in Professional Societies and is currently on the editorial board of the journal Epidemiology and Infection.

Along with colleagues from the department, Professor Block is deeply involved with the training of medical and dental students, and currently convenes the course in Medical Microbiology given in the third year in which he has initiated a drive towards the introduction of modern teaching methods. In addition, he has made it his personal mission to recruit and train specialist physicians in Clinical Microbiology and to this end has served as a member of the professional committee for laboratory medicine in the Scientific Council of the Israel Medical Association and chairman of the examinations committee for Clinical Microbiology since the late 1980s.

Recent publications

Chapters in books

1.  Block C. Antibiotic susceptibility testing. In: Pollard AJ, Maiden MCJ, editors. Meningococcal Disease. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2001: 89-106.

2.  Block C, Vazquez JA. Antibiotic resistance. Chapter 4. In: Frosch M, Maiden MCJ, editors. Handbook of Meningococcal Dis. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH, 2006: 53-74.

Other publications

1.  Block C, Peleg O, Minster N, Bar-Oz B, Simhon A, Arad I, Shapiro M. Cluster of neonatal infections in Jerusalem due to unusual biochemical variant of Enterobacter sakazakii. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2002; 21(8):613-6.

2.  Block C, Furman, M. Association between intensity of chlorhexidine use and micro-organisms of reduced susceptibility in a hospital environment. J Hosp Infect 2002; 51(3):201-206.

3.  Shapira-Nahor O, Grotto I, Adler A, Mandel J, Ashkenazi I, Block C. Anticapsular polysaccharide meningococcal antibodies in Israeli military recruits: immune status and the effect of simultaneous administration of immune globulin on the response to polysaccharide vaccine. Vaccine 2002; 20 (23-24): 2851-2856.

4.  Block C. The effect of Perasafe® and sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) against spores of Clostridium difficile and Bacillus atrophaeus on stainless steel and polyvinyl chloride surfaces. J Hosp Infect 2004; 57:144-148.

5.  Dettenkofer M, Block C. Hospital disinfection – efficacy and safety issues. Curr Opinion Infect Dis 2005; 18(4):320-325.

6.  C. Stein-Zamir, N. Abramson, G. Zentner, H. Shoob, L. Valinsky and C. Block. (2007) Invasive meningococcal disease among children in Jerusalem. Epidemiol Infect Jul 30; [Epub ahead of print].