Dr. Joseph Zimmerman
Phone -972 2 6776849
Fax -972 2 6421388
Email: zimmerj@vms.huji.ac.il

Dr. Zimmerman was born in Tel Aviv and graduated from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in 1974. He did his internship (1974-75), residency in Internal Medicine (1977-82) and his training in Gastroenterology (1982-84) in the Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Kerem. Dr. Zimmerman spent 2 years of research fellowship in the University of Chicago, USA (1984-86). During this fellowship, sponsored by a Forgarty grant, Dr. Zimmerman studied the mechanisms of transport of folic acid in the intestine. Upon his return, he continued research in this field using a model of organ-cultured biopsy specimens of human small intestine and colon. Dr. Zimmerman was also interested in the epidemiology of gastrointestinal bleeding, and its prognostic factors. Since 1986, Dr. Zimmerman started to implement techniques of hypnosis and suggestion in the treatment of various gastrointestinal diseases. His current interests involve the development of instruments to diagnose functional gastrointetstinal disorders and to gauge changes in symptoms resulting from these disorders following therapy. Dr. Zimmerman described methods for sedation of patients during medical procedures using hypnotic techniques, and is active in the development of methods for treating various gastrointestinal conditions using hypnosis. Dr. Zimmerman is associate professor in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. Among his teaching activities he served as the chairman of the examination committee in Internal Medicine, he was a Contributing Editor of Nutrition Reviews (1989-94) and is currently the chairman of the admission committee of the Hebrew University Medical School.