Prof. Michael Wilschanski was born in London, England and graduated from the University of London( Royal Free Medical School) in 1985. He completed his Pediatric residency at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem and following this a 3 year Fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. He returned to Israel and worked as a senior Pediatric Gastroentrologist at Shaare Zedek before being appointed Director of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Unit at the Hadassah University Hospitals (Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus) in 2003.
He founded the Electrophysiology Laboratory in Shaare Zedek and moved it to Hadassah. This laboratory is unique in Israel and deals with electrolyte transport in vivo and in vitro. Tests performed are useful in the diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis and the laboratory receives referrals from all parts of Israel. These tests are also useful in the evaluation of new therapeutic agents for Cystic Fibrosis and numerous studies including collaboration in multi-national trials are taking place.
Prof. Wilschanski is the Chairman of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society Diagnostic Network. This comprises 50 researchers from all over Europe who specialize in these tests.
Prof Wilschanski is the Chairman of the ESPGHAN (European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition) Working Group on Cystic Fibrosis. This working group consists of 40 Pediatric Gastroenterologists from all over Europe who have a special interest in Cystic Fibrosis. The first multi-center study has recently been published.
Prof Wilschanski has received international research grants to investigate new non-animal based pancreatic enzymes and to perform capsule endoscopy (swallowed camera) in Cystic Fibrosis.
Apart from his clinical and research interest in Cystic Fibrosis, Prof Wilschanski has published on numerous aspects of pediatric gastroenterology including
Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Celiac Disease, probiotics in neonatology and pediatrics and abdominal pain including Helicobacter pylori infection in children. He has a current research project on obesity prevention in the community.
The Pediatric Gastroenterology Unit in Hadassah cares for over 70 patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and works in close contact with the very large Adult Hadassah IBD Center. One of our current projects is assessing the psychological aspects of treatment for IBD on children (manuscript in preparation). We are collaborating with other IBD Centers in Israel on special anti-inflammatory diets for Crohns Disease.
Prof Wilschanski is on the National Examination Board for the subspecialty of Pediatric Gastroenterology and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis.
Details of publications may be viewed in Pubmed.