The Pediatric Hemato-Oncology Department of the Sheba Medical Center is the leading center for treatment of childhood cancers in Israel. The department includes the Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic and Day Care Unit, the Inpatient Ward and the Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit. A Home Care Unit provides palliative home care for terminally ill patients and coordinates treatment between services in the hospital and the community. The new Marion and Elie Wiesel Children's Pavilion is the newest addition to the Pediatric Hemato-Oncology department. It is the only Pediatric Hospice in Israel.

As a major referral center, we admit approximately 120 new Pediatric Oncology patients each year.  We also treat children with Hematological Diseases, Immune Deficiencies, Thalassemia, Inborn Errors of Metabolism, and Bone Marrow Failure. Though our primary focus is children, we also treat young adults (till the age of 30) with solid tumors that are more typical of the pediatric age group. 

Inpatient
Our Inpatient Ward is located on the third floor of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's  building adjacent to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Patients admitted to the ward are seen daily by the attending and staff physicians as well as the Hemato-Oncology nurses and staff specialists. Our inpatient ward comprises 16 beds and state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment facilities. All the rooms in the ward are special units that enable strict isolation and contain the equipment for positive pressure and air filtration through HEPA filters.

Together with the assistance of all the pediatric sub-specialists, our staff is expressly trained to meet the special needs of our patients and their families. Emergency services are provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by on-call and duty physicians of the department. The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is located adjacent to the Inpatient Ward and provides emergency treatment to patients undergoing aggressive chemotherapy treatment. This unit also contains two special isolation rooms with the appropriate equipment and conditions for the special needs of the Pediatric Hemato-Oncology patient.

Wilcheck Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic and Day Care Units
The Wilcheck Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic and Day Care Units are located on the first floor of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Building of the Sheba Medical Center. The specialized physicians and support staff examine and provide treatment for several hundred patients a year on an ambulatory basis.

The clinic is open Sunday through Thursday from 8:00 A.M. until 7:00 P.M. and Friday from 8:00 A.M. until 1:00 P.M.  It is our primary setting for the treatment of children with cancer and chronic blood disorders. The facility is designed to provide coordinated medical care and psychosocial support for the children and their families.

The staff consists of physicians and nurses, as well as a team of specialists in the fields of Social Work, Psychology, and Art and Movement Therapy. Most of the therapy and procedures are provided on an ambulatory basis. The day care unit comprises a Procedure Room (where bone marrow aspirations, biopsies, and intrathecal injections are performed under general anesthesia), Examination Rooms, Chemotherapy Treatment Rooms, Playrooms, Psychosocial Rooms, as well as a Conference Room.

Palliative Home Care Unit
We offer a unique integrated service of palliative home care for terminally ill children to improve the quality of life of the children and their families. A Pediatric Palliative home care nurse provides this service and specializes in pain control particularly in the terminal phase of disease. Family Therapy is provided by a social worker, a psychologist and a Pediatric Hemato-Oncologist. The palliative home care nurse coordinates treatment between all services at the hospital and the community.
 
In addition to Outpatient and Inpatient Facilities, we have a Stem Cell Transplant Unit and a unique Hospice for children, The Marion and Elie Wiesel Children's Pavilion. We are the leading research center in childhood cancer in Israel, with strong collaborative connections with some of the major centers of Pediatric Oncology in Europe and the USA, including St. Anna Children's Hospital in Austria, the Pediatric Oncology Branch in the National Cancer Institute, NIH and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In addition to serving Israeli patients, we treat children referred from various countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.
 
The department staff is actively involved in the academic and research community and attends international and national meetings in the fields of Hematology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Pediatric Oncology, Neurosurgery and Oncology, as well as annual international conferences such as ASH, SIOP, ASCO, AAICR, and EBMT.

Department at a Glance
Number of Patients per Year - 1200 inpatients 4000 outpatients and 7000 day care visits
Number of Beds - 20
Founder - Prof. Gidi Rechavi Prof. Gidi Rechavi, the founder of the department, is currently the head of The Sheba Cancer Center and Professor Of Hematology. He is a specialist in Pediatrics, General Hematology and Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, head of the Tel Aviv University Cancer Biology Center, and holds the Shapiro Chair for Research in Hematologic malignancies. Under his leadership, the department of Pediatric Oncology has become the major Israeli center for treatment of childhood cancer. Prof. Rechavi is a well-known scientist in molecular biology and immunology of hematological malignancies and has co-authored more then 150 articles published in the international peer-reviewed scientific literature. E-mail - Gidi.Rechavi@sheba.health.gov.il
Director - Dr. Amos Toren Dr. Amos Toren is the head of the Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology and the head of the Stem Cell Transplant Unit. Dr. Toren is a senior lecturer in Sackler School of Medicine. He is a specialist in Pediatrics, General Hematology and Pediatric Hemato-Oncology. His research interests include bone-marrow transplantation and the genetics of hereditary hematological disorders, mainly genetic syndromes characterized by macrothrombocytopenias. In addition, his research includes the characterization of stem cells derived from different sources like cord blood, bone marrow and peripheral blood. He is also a part of a group that studies apoptosis in hematologic malignancies and genes that are activated by P53. E-mail - Amos.Toren@sheba.health.gov.il
Address - The Edmond & Lily Safra Children's Hospital
Tel - Tel. Ward: 972-3-530-2934 Tel. Clinic: 972-3-530-2996 / 3037 Fax Ward: 972-3-530-2935 Fax Clinic: 972-3-530-3040 / 3031 Bone Marrow and Transplantation Unit Tel: 972-3-530-3037