Lauren Z. – Hillel Tel Aviv, Summer 2018

“This summer I am interning at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer in a microbiology research lab. I am studying the effects of a pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7), on closely related Palestinian populations under two distinct health authorities. The project conducts annual health surveys of children in East Jerusalem, where the vaccine has been implemented since 2009, and the West Bank, where the vaccine is unlicensed, to examine the vaccine’s effects on drug resistance and carriage rates of staph, strep, and MRSA.

I am also working with the Director of Infectious Disease in clinical trials that make use of UV-disinfection robots to clean patient rooms of hospital-acquired infections. Israel has some of the most cutting-edge technology in the world for disease prevention and infection control, and I am so grateful to have had such wonderful opportunities this summer.”