At the signing: Sheba CEO Prof. Zeev Rotstein with M. D. Anderson Provost & Executive Vice President Prof. Raymond N. DuBois

The Sheba Medical Center and the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center signed a pioneering "Sister Institution Relationship" agreement in February for broad-scale cooperation in oncology training, treatment and research. The agreement includes cooperation in physician education and training, clinical services, research collaborations, quality assurance programs, faculty exchange visits, scientific endeavors, nursing and other technical support staff training, and more – all in the field of oncology.

Key to the agreement is collaboration in translational research: full exchange of technologies and knowledge between the institutions and establishment of joint translational research efforts to improve cancer patient care. Use will be made of the large clinical cohorts and tissue banks available at Anderson and Sheba. Also: Collaboration in clinical trials: Sheba patients will be included in clinical trials conducted at Anderson, especially investigator-initiated trials. In addition, Sheba researchers conducting clinical trials on novel therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostic tools developed in Israel will include Anderson collaborators in their studies.

The first Sheba Medical Center doctor to benefit from a fellowship under the new agreement will be Dr. Aviad Hoffman, a Sheba surgical oncologist who will spend three years at Anderson, beginning this summer. He will be doing two years of research and one year of clinical-surgical training and practice. Anderson's first foray into Sheba involves a cooperative learning relationship with MSR: The Israel Center for Medical Simulation. MSR is the world's first all-embracing "virtual hospital," where health professionals learn from their mistakes in a safe environment while training against role-playing actors and real-life computerized mannequins. MSR will be sharing its expertise with Anderson in simulation training in a wide variety of clinical domains related to oncology.

"M. D. Anderson is one of the most important cancer treatment and research centers in the world. Its association with Sheba will bring enormous benefit to our patients, and significant advancement, I hope, to the field of cancer research around the world," said Sheba CEO Prof. Rotstein. Signing on the agreement for the American hospital were John Mendelsohn, M.D., its president; and Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., Anderson Provost & Executive Vice President.