Staff Mobility

On 15-22.9.2024, I traveled to the University of Basel in Switzerland to the Institute for Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine.
IBMB: https://ibmb.unibas.ch/en/home/

The hosting faculty member was Dr. Tenzin Wangmo, a senior researcher and coordinator of the doctoral program at the Institute for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Basel.

Goals:
Examining the feasibility of building an international course/workshop on bioethics and health policy – in Israel and worldwide, and expanding international connections.
During the meetings, I proposed hosting a mutual course for enrichment and learning in the fields of health policy.

Course of the stay:
17.9.24 Meeting with Dr. Tenzin Wangmo, University of Basel, on collaboration of courses from the University of Basel
17.9.24 Joining a departmental seminar at the University of Basel and networking with faculty members of the institute and with a visiting researcher: Dr. Tim Rojek from the University of Münster, Germany.
18.9.24 Meeting with Prof. Dr. Alfred Bodenheimer, University of Basel
https://jewishstudies.unibas.ch/de/personen/alfred-bodenheimer/projekte/
19.9.24 Giving a faculty seminar lecture at the University of Basel on the topic:
Ethical Aspects of Using AI in Optimizing Fertility Treatments
19.9.24 Meeting with Nathalie Nasser, a research student at the institute, regarding research collaboration
20.9.24 Meeting at the University of Zurich with Dr. Roberto Andorno on collaboration of courses from the University of Zurich.
https://www.ibme.uzh.ch/en/Biomedical-Ethics/Team/Research-Fellows/Roberto-Andorno.html
From a practical point of view, it was agreed that we would hold a meeting on promoting a concrete course. I talked with Gila about the possibility of promoting an international course that I will study in the coming year.
I thank you for this special opportunity to visit another academic institution and meet the faculty members.
I hope I can advance things for the benefit of our college and our students.
Dr. Orit Golan

On May 2024, I traveled to New York for a busy but fascinating journey.
During my stay in the city, I lectured on two courses for students at Hofstra University in New York. The feedback was good, and the meeting was interesting for both sides and left an opening for future teaching as a guest lecturer at the university.
This university is also known for excellent student services, and I held a meeting with a representative of the Dean of Students where I learned about other initiatives and actions worth adopting here.
I also held meetings with four researchers in my common fields of research. Beyond discussing research partnerships, two of them sowed interest in taking part of future college exchange projects or teaching summer college courses.
The meetings with them, with the students, and a few other “hallway meetings” that I had the opportunity to have, presented a significant opportunity to discuss and explain the current situation in Israel. There is a lot of laconic and superficial knowledge even among educated people who are sympathetic to Israel, and the meetings were important in this sense as well. New York today is not an easy place to stay, the riots on campuses are felt in the city and it was fascinating to stay there especially during this period.
I am positive this trip will lead to continuous and fruitful collaborations.

During my stay in Boston 15.9.24- 30.9.24, I visited and gave lectures at three different institutes, Harvard Medical School (Jen Center for Primary Care, Brigham & Women Hospital), Healthcare Administration-Sawyer School of Business, Suffolk University, and RAND- Research and Development institute at Park avenue- Boston. A detailed plan of my visit is elaborated in the Hebrew section above.
During my trip I met with several researchers to develop two main goals. First, I started working with Professor Gordon Schiff on a project funded by AHRQ, titled: “Improving Cancer Diagnosis (ICDx): Learning from Patients Experiencing Cancer Diagnosis Delays”. Professor Schiff is the supervisor of my postdoctoral fellowship (2019-2021). He is known as an expert in the field of quality of diagnosis and patient safety. We have worked on ways to best communicate diagnostic uncertainty. Our work was published in Harvard press was in September in addition to previous publications. Due to our mutual interest in types of communication with patients, during this visit, I attended his clinic at the Jen Center, Brigham and Women Hospital. My presence was important for developing future research ideas, particularly since he is participating in a pilot regarding AI virtual scribes.
Additionally, we met with the full ICDx research team. Since this project is mainly based on qualitative methods and I am the main consultant of the qualitative analysis, it was important to meet and discuss ongoing and future plans with the team.
Also, I met and worked with Professor Erin Sullivan from Healthcare Administration-Sawyer School of Business, Suffolk University, affiliated as well with Harvard Medical School, on applying to the NSF-BSF Research grant. We are thinking to apply for next year-round. We aim to meet and consult with Professor Mark Linzer, a well-known clinician burnout expert. Dr Sullivan is known for her work in teams in healthcare, and she might consider visiting the Max Yezrael College depending on the situation in Israel.
Further, I met with Shira Fischer MD, from RAND institute and discussed applying for a grant. She has also showed interest in visiting Max Yezrael College.
I gave three lectures during my visit. The first took place at RAND, “Communicating across the divide in healthcare settings: culture, gender, and patient-provider dynamics”. Researchers from the institute joined in person and virtually. The second was at Healthcare Administration-Sawyer School of Business, Suffolk University for master’s class, titled: “Teamwork and Communicational divide among healthcare staff members in primary care.” The third was at Harvard Medical School, General Internal Medicine Center, titled: “The Quest for a High -Quality Diagnosis: Measuring and Comparing Clinical Encounters and Clinical Documentation.” It was targeted to clinicians and researchers who joined in person and virtually.

In light of a collaboration that began in 2023, Prof. Barbara Thies invited Dr. Michal Raz and Dr. Oriana Abboud Armaly to visit the Technical University of Braunschweig, Institute of Educational Psychology, Germany on August 2024.

The researchers also met with faculty members and PhD candidates at two other universities in Germany:

• MSH – Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and Medical School Hamburg
• Technical University of Berlin

The visit included lectures to faculty members and PhD students which presented research areas and methodologies that are relevant to potential future collaborative research. In addition, the researchers were exposed to the research methods, tools, and practices used by the host faculty members and explored the possibility of incorporating these into future research. During their stay, opportunities for further collaboration were discussed, as well as concrete proposals for future research in areas of interest to researchers from both Israel and Germany.

The researchers are currently formulating a research proposal that will enable them to continue their joint activities in the future.

On May 2024, I traveled to Thessaloniki, Greece to meet with colleagues, in the aim of creating future academic collaborations.
Dr. Dimitrios Theofanidis, a senior Nursing staff member in the International Hellenic University, was my very attentive and generous host.
He arranged for meetings with colleagues from the university and the local hospital (HEPA), as well as lectures I gave to undergraduate and graduate students and meeting the local Jewish community.
Meetings with the students were very interesting, we discussed the curriculums and the differences between our countries when it comes to the healthcare systems.
In HEPA I had the opportunity to discuss administrative and medical issues within the hospital and the community, share how we work in Israel and learn how things are done in Greece.
Many collaboration options were discussed during my week in Greece: students and staff mobility, joined research, joined online courses, a heabrew translation of a Greek book and more.

August 21 – September 15, 2024

I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to the International Office for supporting this important trip. The journey played a pivotal role in strengthening my international professional connections and enhancing my academic reputation as a researcher. Below is a summary of the key visits and activities during the trip:

August 27-30: The University of South Carolina  

1. I met with my host, Prof. Shannon Bowen, from the College of Information and Communication, to discuss our collaboration on the topic of AI and ethical challenges in PR. We reviewed my research proposal that won the Berger Research Award, and Prof. Bowen invited me, as the recipient of the award, to present my study at the upcoming conclave of the Global Strategic Communication Consortium in May 2025 in Sardinia (https://gscc-conclave.weebly.com/2025-conclave.html)
2. I delivered a research talk to faculty members of the College of Information and Communication titled: “Trust and Adoption: How AI Technology is Perceived and Used by Content Consumers and Producers” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GArQipaf1I).
3. I taught a class in Dr. Robertson’s Crisis Communication course for undergraduate students, titled: “AI and its Impact on the Field of PR.”  
4. I taught a graduate class in Dr. Bowen’s PR Management course, titled: “AI and its Impact on the PR Industry and Research.”  
5. Dr. Taylor Wen, from the College of Information and Communication, gave me a tour of the Bio Lab, which integrates virtual reality (VR) with biological parameters in communication research. As the head of the Marketing Communication track at YVC, this tour provided me with ideas for building a similar VR lab in our department.  

September 3-7: The University of Maryland  

1. I met with my host, Prof. Ganga Dhanesh, from the Department of Communication in the College of Arts & Humanities, for several working meetings to discuss our ongoing collaborations:  
2. We brainstormed ideas for two separate book chapters, each of which we are contributing to a volume on culture and crisis communication, edited by Prof. Sriramesh Krishnamurthy from the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado, USA.  
3. We discussed and planned the continuation of our book project titled “Intercultural Public Relations: Insights from the Middle East” (Routledge), which we aim to complete by the end of December 2024.  
4. We explored potential topics for future grant proposals.  
5. We discussed submitting a joint panel proposal for the upcoming International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Denver, USA.  
6. I delivered a research talk to PhD students and faculty members from the College of Information and Communication, titled: “Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on the Public Relations Field and Content Creation.”

September 11-14: The European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) Annual Congress, The University of Bucharest, Romania 

1. I presented a joint research project co-authored with Dr. Amit Gur, focusing on patients’ perceptions and their willingness to adopt new healthcare technologies based on their trust in media sources. The conference provided valuable networking opportunities with European scholars in strategic and health communication, further expanding my professional network.

As a direct result of this trip, I am now collaborating with international colleagues on several research initiatives. This trip has significantly contributed to both my academic development and the establishment of new, productive research partnerships. 

Thank you again for your support,

Best regards,

Dr. Ruth Avidar