Unlocking the Secrets of a Rare Disease

Ido Han is pursuing his M.D. in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, where he is a research assistant in Professor Sara Selig’s Laboratory for Molecular Medicine. He is also a 2023 Ilene & Steve Berger Technion Visiting Fellow, meeting with ATS supporters in the southeastern cities of the United States.

The goal of his research is to explore whether a mutation that had never been described before caused a little girl to develop the genetic syndrome ICF2 (autosomal recessive immunodeficiency-centromeric instability-facial anomalies), which is characterized by immunodeficiency, intellectual deficit, and facial dysmorphism.

Ido was born in the town of Afula near the Jezreel Valley and raised in Kibbutz Reshafim in Northern Israel. He graduated high school as salutatorian, and as valedictorian of the school’s “Pre-Atidim” program. He then trained in the Israel Defense Forces’ paratrooper brigade and served as a training officer in the Officers’ Training School. He is currently a captain in the IDF reserves’ HR Evaluation Unit, which evaluates candidates for designated officer courses in the IDF.

Ido was recognized as an outstanding instructor in the paratrooper brigade for 2017; chosen as an outstanding Human Resources officer for 2018; and named an outstanding team commander in the Officers’ Training School for 2020. He is in his third semester in the Technion’s medical school and made the Dean’s list his first two semesters.

Outside of the classroom, Ido has frequently worked with children, volunteering at a unique school for students on the autism spectrum and serving as a guide in the Bnei Moshavim youth movement. During high school, he guided tours for educational delegations from Israel and abroad. He enjoys good food and spending time with his fiancé, and he is thinking about continuing his studies in genetic research with the goal of possibly becoming a gynecologist.