Aviv D. Goldbart MD, MSc

Dr. Aviv Goldbart, pediatric pulmonologist and sleep disorders specialist at Soroka University Medical Center, has been awarded a prestigious research grant from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF). Dr. Goldbart, a graduate of BGU's Goldman School of Medicine, specialized in pediatric pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders in the United States. He serves as assistant director in the Saban Pediatric Center at Soroka and as a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Health Sciences. Dr. Goldbart recently won a prestigious grant from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) to conduct research on inflammation changes in young children who suffer from snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This is the second prestigious grant Dr. Goldbart has received from the ISF in recent years. The grant, which is generally awarded to university researchers who are not physicians, was granted to Dr. Goldbart so that he could study the causes of the disease.

“Our goal is to find non-invasive treatments for OSA,” said Dr. Goldbart. “We are seeking a nonsurgical treatment that will be used instead of tonsillectomies and polypectomies in children, and as a replacement for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines for adults. It should be remembered that a considerable percentage of children who suffer from OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) and undergo surgery occasionally suffer from post-operative infection, bleeding and dehydration. Some children experience a recurrence of the condition.” The study is funded in the amount of NIS 750,000 and will run for approximately three years. When it is completed, Dr. Aviv Goldbart’s lab team hopes to report on the identity of specific receptors for drug intervention.