Prof. Ron Dagan, member of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University and director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit at the Soroka University Medical Center, is the recipient of the award for research in infectious diseases
Prof. Ron Dagan, a world-renowned researcher and physician, recently won the prestigious award for outstanding scientist in the field of medicine on behalf of the late Samuel and Paula Alkels for 2007. The award, in the amount of 15,000 Swiss francs (NIS 51,00), was awarded to him on behalf of the existing fund to Israel for his great work and initiatives in the field of infectious diseases.
Prof. Dagan, a member of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit at the Soroka University Medical Center, is one of the leading and most prominent researchers in the world in the field of pediatric infectious diseases. His unique contribution in the field of infectious diseases earned him national and international recognition. Prof. Dagan published more than 350 original articles and over 300 publications including abstracts, reviews and book chapters, all of which were presented at international and national scientific conferences.
Prof. Dagan is a graduate of the Jerusalem School of Medicine. He did his internship and specialization in pediatrics at the Soroka University Medical Center. For the past 33 years, since the establishment of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, he has been one of the lecturers at the faculty. In infectious diseases in children he did at the SRONG Medical Center at the University of Rochester in the USA. For the past 20 years, he has been the head of the infectious diseases unit in Soroka.
Prof. Dagan serves as the president of the World Organization of Infectious Diseases WSPID, a member of scientific and medical associations as well as many advisory boards in Israel and abroad, serves as a consultant for infectious diseases at the Ministry of Health in the State of Israel and has been appointed as an editorial board member of several well-known scientific and medical journals. Prof. Dagan has established a national service system For providing advice and treatment of infectious diseases in children, his main contribution in the development of vaccines And in introducing them to the health basket, the main work is in the vaccine against type A and in the vaccine against pneumococcus bacteria, which are resistant to antibiotics in ear infections and various antibiotics to prevent infections in the digestive system of children.
In addition to this award, Prof. Dagan received important awards and research grants, among them the "Bill Marshall" award of the ESPID organization, the "Serov" award for excellence in human microbiology of the Israeli Microbiology Association and the "Teva founders" award for promoting the treatment of infectious diseases in view of the increase in antibiotic resistance .
Prof. Dagan continues the path of two outstanding people in the faculty and in Soroka who previously received this prestigious award. Prof. Shimon Glick, former dean of the faculty who received this award in 1988 and was the first winner, and the late Prof. Shraga Segal, also a former dean, who received the award in 1996.
The Samuel and Paula Elkels Award for an outstanding scientist in the field of medicine is being awarded for the 20th year. The fund was established from funds donated by the late Dr. Ludwig Elkels in his will for scholarships for outstanding scientists in the field of medicine. Dr. Ludwig Alkels from Germany strove to promote medicine in Israel and therefore decided to establish this fund in the country. KKL-Junk, which administers the fund, acts as a trustee for testators who entrust it with their wills and request that funds be established to award prizes in various fields. The amount of the annual prize is 15,000 Swiss francs.
