Leo Sher, M.D.

The Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman 3rd International Conference on Pediatric Chronic Diseases, Disability and Human Development was held in the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, Israel, on December 2-5, 2012. About 400 clinicians and researchers from Israel, United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Australia, and other countries participated in the conference.
 
American participants were from leading teaching institutions and medical centers including Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine,  University of Southern California, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Georgia State University, Western Michigan University School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, University of Chicago, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles.
 
Various topics including comprehensive care of children with special health care needs, understanding of a new chronic food allergy disorder, genetic causes of neurological disorders, sensory processing in vitamin B1 deficient infants, diagnosis and management of eating disorders, use and abuse of the Internet by adolescents, adolescent bariatric surgery, medical treatment of ADHD, management of encopresis, infant feeding and long term health, autism spectrum disorders, asthma in childhood, alcohol and drug abuse among adolescents, non-surgical treatment of congenital heart diseases, youth sexual health, prospects for a helicobacter pylori vaccine to treat peptic ulcer disease, and chronic kidney disease were discussed at the conference.

The meeting was organized by Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the Israeli National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The Organizing Committee consisted of Professor Joav Merrick (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Israel), Professor Eitan Kerem (Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center), Dr. Ariel Tenenbaum (Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center), Professor Isaiah D. Wexler (Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center), David B. Marcu (Israel Elwyn), and Dalia Nissim (Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services).