Professor Rustin leads UK Dowling Club visit to Israel

The Dowling Club (DC) is an educational establishment for Consultant and Trainee Dermatologists that is affiliated to the British Association of Dermatologists. Every year the President selects a country to visit to share academic and clinical experiences and generally this coincides with the host’s annual meeting.

On the 11^th June 2022 15 Consultant and 6 Trainee UK Dermatologists arrived in Tel Aviv. The following day we were hosted by Professor Eli Sprecher, Head of the Department of Dermatology at the Sourasky Medical Centre, the main hospital serving Tel Aviv. We were shown the new hyperbaric oxygen chamber used to treat patients with a variety of lung diseases and recalcitrant skin ulcers, the Institute for Advanced Cellular Therapies in which CAR T-cell therapies are prepared for individual patients suffering from leukaemias and lymphomas and patients with the blistering disorder pemphigus. We also visited the Genomics and Bioinformatics Centre in which rapid gene sequencing and data-crunching bioinformatic systems is being used in the rapid diagnosis and treatment of genetic, cancer, inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. We were impressed by the presence of 73 private companies in the hospital undertaking collaborative research projects and the numerous generous donations from philanthropists that supported the infrastructure and building projects. The academic meeting consisted of 5 presentations by the host department and 5 from the DC delegates which included the multiple manifestations of histoplasmosis, that Langerhans cell histiocytosis harbours BRAF mutations in 50-60% of patients and the multiple mutations found in patients with different types of haemangiomas that form the basis of targeted therapy. My talk was on targeting immunosenescence to enhance immunity.

The following day was spent in the Department of Dermatology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa. The programme included 11 presentations, 5 from our hosts and 6 from the DC on the manifestations, molecular diagnosis and treatment of leishmaniasis, the molecular basis of skin cancers, the management and diagnosis of delusional parasitosis and perianal dermatoses.

For the next 4 days we attended the Annual Meeting of the Israel Society for Dermatology and Venereology. Lectures given by world experts from the USA and Europe on vitiligo, atopic eczema, skin lymphomas and connective tissue diseases and reviews on blistering diseases in children and hair loss provided updates on the pathogenesis and treatment of these dermatological conditions.

On the last day of the conference we visited the headquarters of Magen David Adom (MDA), the national ambulance service that is affiliated to the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The MDA have 2 helicopters, a fleet of 1716 ambulances stationed at 168 centres all over Israel. They can deploy ordinary ambulances, mobile intensive care unit vehicles, specialised neonatal care ambulances, first responders on motorbikes and electric bikes and can rapidly set up mobile field clinics in the event of a major disaster. MDA liaises with the Red Crescent in the West Bank and adjacent Arab countries accepting patients and in addition coordinates and gives international humanitarian aid.

The next stop was Jerusalem where we attended lectures in the School Of Pharmacy in the Hebrew University on drug development with a particular focus on nanoparticles used in the delivery of topical ciclosporin being trialled in ocular and dermatological conditions.

We left Israel with an overwhelming sense of gratitude to those colleagues and friends we met in Israel and appreciative of the educational, geographical and spiritual experiences in this evolving democratic nation.

Professor Eli Sprecher welcoming the Immediate Past-President Dr Donna Thompson and the current President of the Dowling Club Professor Malcolm Rustin.

The Dowling Club delegation on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem.