Director, Genetic Institute, Soroka University Medical Center
Director, Morris Khan Lab, National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, BGU
Following MD studies at Tel Aviv University, military service as a medical officer (Major) in the IDF and residency in Pediatrics at Sheba Medical Center, Birk did his PhD at the Weizmann Institute with Irun Cohen,delineating hsp60 as a crucial autoantigen in type 1 diabetes and allograft rejection, effective in their prevention. He then went on to do his training in clinical human genetics and post-doctorate with Heiner Westphal at the NIH, unraveling LHX9 as a gene critical for mammalian gonad formation. Dr. Birk has coordinated the first year genetics course since the school’s inception and is also teaching faculty at the Goldman School of Medicine at BGU.
