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Fetal Health Care Symposium to
Spread Cooperation Forged by
Abraham Accords
I Photos courtesy of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
JON MARKS | SPECIAL TO THE EXPONENT
t’s going to be a big week for Dr. Jack
Rychik of Merion Station.

On Oct. 23, he and his wife Susan
will marry off the middle of their three
daughters, Leora. Unfortunately, there
won’t be much time for him to celebrate
the nachas.

Th at’s because two days later he’ll leave
for the United Arab Emirates capital
of Abu Dhabi, the site of the inaugural
International Middle East Fetal-Neonatal
Cardiovascular Symposium on Oct. 28-29.

“I’m a pediatric cardiologist, also a
native Israeli who came to the U.S. as
a child, and still have family there,”
said Rychik, director of the Fetal Heart
Program and associate chief of cardiology
at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Th ere are centers around the world that
do what we do. CHOP has a global health
department. We go and off er lectures at
various meetings around the world. Th e
Abraham Accords opened my eyes to this
possibility two years ago.”
Th e Sept. 15, 2020 signing of the
Abraham Accords normalized relation-
ships between the U.S., Israel, the UAE
and Bahrain, opening the doors for dip-
lomatic channels. Not long aft erward,
Oman and Sudan joined the party.

From there, offi cials at CHOP, led by
Rychik, as well as the Schneider Medical
Center in Israel and Sheikh Khalifa
Medical City in Abu Dhabi, began laying
the groundwork for what they hope will
become a regular occurrence.

“In my 30 years, the pediatric car-
diology fi eld has advanced more into
prenatal care and developed a lot of new
techniques,” explained Rychik, the son of
Polish Holocaust survivors and a member
of Lower Merion Synagogue. “During
pregnancy, it’s an area in medicine that
crosses both pediatrics and obstetrics.”
“We can now perform an ultrasound
and detect birth defect within 13 weeks,
which is the standard for how the heart
is formed. I started thinking this might
be an opportunity for us to share our
knowledge and see if we can collaborate
Dr. Jack Rychik
with the center in Israel and welcome
centers in the Middle East where we can
develop a network.

“I was able to convince our leaders at
CHOP to do a couple of things to spread
our knowledge of how to care for these
individuals. By doing so, it’ll be a catalyst
for improving relations between Israel
and the Arab world.”
Th at’s where CHOP Vice President
of Global Strategy and Business
Development Ruth Frey comes in. She’s
hopscotched the Middle East, serving as
the symposium’s chief liaison.

“Aft er the Abraham Accords were
signed, we hosted an event at CHOP on
July 21, 2021, and invited diplomats from
Israel and the UAE virtually but had the
UAE consulate from New York there in
person,” she explained. “Th e response
was overwhelming, and we put the gas
to the pedal aft er that. It takes a year,
between planning the location, speakers
and driving the money.”
Much of that money has come from
anonymous donors, including a prominent
member of the Jewish community, she said.

For those wishing to contribute, CHOP has
set up a donor relations line at 267-426-
5332 or through giving@chop.edu.

With the preliminaries completed, the
moment of truth will soon be at hand. For
Rychik, it’s about more than spreading
the word: It’s personal.

“As a child of Holocaust survivors, the
importance of Israel and its value has
always weighed heavily in my life,” he
said. “All the more this history motivates
me specifi cally to do what small things I
can to make a diff erence.

“Even a small course correction like
this — simply bringing medical experts
from Israel and the Arab world together
in the same room to talk medicine and
discuss and learn about how to advance
fetal and pediatric health care in a small
domain of fetal cardiovascular medicine
— may have a great impact as we move
forward in time.

Th at’s why he, Frey and 15 of their col-
leagues — some of them Jewish — will
board that 13-hour fl ight to Abu Dhabi,
where they’ll interact with Arab partic-
ipants in person and virtually. Despite
opposition from Saudi Arabia and other
Arab nations, the conference will go on.

“Recorded greeting from Isaac Herzog,
president of Israel, and the UAE minister
of tolerance will open the conference,”
Rychik said. “Th ere will be virtual regis-
trants from India, China, South America
and other countries.

“Th is kind of international conference
happens all the time. Hosting it in the
Middle East is a totally diff erent thing.

Th anks to the Abraham Accords, our
hope is we can make it a sustainable thing.

“Maybe next year in Jerusalem, as we
say.” JE
Jon Marks is a freelance writer.

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