Prof. Gabriel Izbicki, Director of the Pulmonary Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center: "8,000 people die from smoking ever year and we can prevent that. We must adopt a holistic approach – education from a young age, warnings on cigarette packs, smoking prohibitions in public places and other steps that can significantly reduce the trend. Our experts at Shaare Zedek are involved a lot in smoking prevention and volunteer in the education system too. We go to schools and explain to and show the children why smoking is so bad for them."
 
Recently, Prof. Izbicki published a study he conducted at Shaare Zedek in which, through a new approach, he succeeded in significantly increasing the number of smokers who stopped smoking using drugs.
 
Dr. Sari Lieberman, Genetic Consultant at Shaare Zedek, talked about genetic studies that help prevent different types of breast cancer. "There are different genes connected to specific types of breast cancer. In the Genetics lab we locate at-risk women carrying these genes, build an ongoing monitoring program and also – if needed – conduct medical prevention procedures. Thankfully, we have been successful in many cases to cut the risk of breast cancer by half."
 
Dr. Saliman Bulus, Director of the Oncology and Hematology Wing, presented innovative treatment methods helping to heal cancer: "Lately we have begun immunotherapy treatments on kidney tumors. Special receptors numb the cancerous cells, which become antibodies and allow the immune system to block the tumor. The new treatments mean full healing of 11% of patients with metastatic cancer. In non-metastatic cancer, the treatment we offer is mainly surgical and we are currently examining immunotherapy as well for prevention, in order to give the immune system more tools for combatting tumors."