ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran Rehabilitative Village and Ben Gurion University recently inaugurated the new Brain Science – Rehabilitation Research Lab located in the southern rehabilitative village. The lab was able to open its doors thanks to a generous donation by the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Foundation for the benefit and advancement of research and students in Israel.

The Brain Science – Rehabilitation Lab is part of an academic branch agreement between Ben Gurion University and the ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran Rehabilitative Village.

The research lab will make use of the extensive knowledge accumulated in the village through the thousands of treatments provided annually to patients of all ages in myriad situations, and will simultaneously be able to carry out field experiments to promote the quality of rehabilitation medicine in general and in the southern Israel in particular.

Dr. Simona Bar-Haim of Ben Gurion University’s Department of Physical Therapy in the Faculty of Health and Sciences and Dr. Lior Shmuelof, senior researcher in the university’s Brain Science Department will head the lab. PhD students who work in the village will complete the research team.

From an academic perspective, this significant collaboration constitutes a practical translation of research, bringing it into practice with patients who will experience and benefit from real-time effects. Dr. Simona Bar-Haim states, “We see a great opportunity in establishing the joint clinic, the main purpose of which is to minimalize the gap between innovative research in brain science and the rehabilitative treatment of people with brain injuries through application and development of novel research regarding practical tools for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of motor disabilities. The goal of the joint initiative is to transform the Negev into an excellent Israeli and international center in the area of rehabilitative treatment.”