Channa Maayan

The Israeli Center for Familial Dysautonomia

Dr. Channa Maayan is the Director of the Israeli Center for Familial Dysautonomia (FD). The Israeli Center was established in 1980 at Hadassah Hospital-Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, and is supported by the Dysautonomia Foundation based in New York City. The Israeli Center fully collaborates with the Dysautonomia Treatment and Evaluation Center in NY.  It currently takes care of and offers medical treatment for 121 FD patients from all over Israel as well as American tourists who come to Israel, and FD patients who live in Europe. As a result of  treatment, mortality and morbidity among FD patients have significantly decreased (mortality has decreased from 40% in the 1980s, to 2-3% today). 

In addition to medical care, the center team continues to work on many research projects, including investigation of the pathogenesis of Familial Dysautonomia, and clinical and laboratory observation.

Dr. Maayan has published numerous articles on the following topics as they relate to the study of Familial Dysautonomia: the cardiovascular system, respiratory problems and breath control during sleep, the gastrointestinal (GI) system, neurology, orthopedics, gynecology, statistics, neurotransmitters, treatment for eyes, surgery and the GI tract, and genetics.  She and her team are conducting ongoing studies regarding pancreatitis and GI function, osteoporosis, and tocotrienols as a possible treatment for FD.    

Channa Maayan

Channa Maayan, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel. She is a pediatrician, pediatric pulmonologist, and has been the Director of the Israeli Center for FD since 1980. She completed her medical studies at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, where she was awarded the Medical Faculty first prize for her M.D. Thesis. Then, she continued to pursue her residency in Pediatrics at the Pediatric Department, Hadassah-Mount Scopus. She also carried out a sub-specialization fellowship in pediatric pulmonology in the same department, and 3 years in the Pediatric Pulmonary Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. In recognition of her work and dedication to her FD patients, Dr. Maayan was awarded the citation of merit as Israel's Distinguished Physician from the Israeli Medical Association and the Society for Medicine and Law.  Under her direction the Israeli Center for FD has grown and is known as the referral center for FD in Israel.