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Founders
Dr. Yair Feld M.D, Ph.D – CEO, Director, and Founder
Dr. Feld has a formal academic education in Medicine (Technion), Physiology and Biophysics (Technion), as well as Physics (Univ. of TAV). Dr. Feld is also founder and principal inventor of CorAssist Cardiovascular, and has 10 years of experience in leading innovative research and development projects. Dr. Feld has published a number of articles in peer review journals, and filed a number of issued patents and patent applications.


Prof. Lior Gepstein M.D, Ph.D – Founder
As an MD/PhD, Dr. Gepstein graduated his medical studies at the Technion school of Medicine. His PhD thesis was conducted at the Physiology department under the supervision of Prof. Shlomo Ben-Haim and focused on cardiac electrophysiology. Besides conducting basic research on the mechanisms underlying different cardiac arrhythmias, Prof. Gepstein was involved in establishment of novel mapping and navigation technology currently used worldwide clinically for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. His scientific work was published at high-rated scientific journals. Currently, Prof. Gepstein is heading the cardiovascular research laboratory at the Physiology Department of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion. His work is concentrating on finding new biological methods for treating cardiac arrhythmias and for regenerating functional myocardium. Prof. Gepstein is also working at the Cardiology Department at Rambam Medical Center.

Prof. Shimon Marom M.D, Ph.D - Director and Founder
Prof. Shimon Marom (MD, PhD) has a formal academic education in Medicine (Technion), Physiology and Biophysics (Technion), as well as Psychology (Univ. of Haifa). Prof. Marom is an expert in molecular, cellular, and network aspects of excitable systems.





Dr. Meira Melamed Frank Ph.D - Founder
Completed her M.Sc. in the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School - Jerusalem, under the supervision of Prof. Herve Bercovier. Title of thesis: "Development of a system for cloning mycobacterial genes in M. smegmatis." She was employed as a research associate for three years at the University of California at Berkeley, Department of Genetics, investigating aneuploidy in yeast chromosome. Her Ph.D. thesis was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Technion Faculty of Medicine under the supervision of Prof. Shimon Marom. In her studies Dr. Frank constructed an animal cell system for expressing ion channels in mammalian cells, and isolated cell lines expressing different K+ and Na+ channels in their membranes. Her electrophysiological studies on those cells provided a possible explanation for the paradoxical clinical symptoms of Hyper PP - a hereditary muscle disorder.

Team
Dr. Zoya Gluzman, Ph.D., M.B.A. - CTO
Dr. Gluzman joined Genegrafts Ltd. in January 2005 as a cardiology project manager and has served as Chief Technology Officer since September 2006. Dr. Gluzman has 8 years of experience in biotechnology management, advancing products from early-stage research up to their regulatory approval. Prior to joining Genegrafts Ltd., from 2000 to 2004, she serves as Angio Project Manager of MGVS Ltd., an Israeli cell therapy company. She has co-authored 12 articles on molecular biology, cell therapy and genetic engineering and holds several patents in angiogenesis and cardiology. Dr. Gluzman received her Ph.D in Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering from the Biology faculty of the Technion and M.B.A. from the Industrial Engineering and Management faculty of the Technion.

Dr. Michal Reshef, DVM - Pre Clinical Director
Dr. Reshef Michal, DVM, a certified veterinary surgeon, was appointed Pre-Clinical Director of GeneGrafts in October 2005. Prior to joining GeneGrafts, Dr Reshef managed CPCS, a privately owned company, planning and executing all pre-clinical studies on large and small animals, focusing on serious unmet medical needs including infectious diseases. During her time with CPCS, Dr. Reshef consulted for a number of Bio-Technology –based diagnostic companies. Earlier in her career, Dr. Reshef worked as a state veterinary surgeon, in charge of infectious disease eradication program in Israel Northern Territories, also in charge of diagnosis of pathologic infective agents in animal's products.

Usama Mohsen B.Sc – Laboratory Supervisor
Usama Mohsen (B.Sc) has a formal academic education in Biotechnology (Ort Braude College). He has experience in Animal Tissue Culture, Molecular biology, Gene Therapy and Immunohistology.





Ms. Gisela Rozimblat - Administrative Manager
Ms. Gisela Rozimblat has joined GeneGrafts Ltd. in 2007. She is the executive assistant to GeneGrafts CEO Dr. Yair Feld.  Among her responsibilities are: The supervision of administrative staff; the fund's management company bookkeeping; coordination of vendor activity, payroll and accounts payable.

 

Scientific Advisory Board
John Finberg, B.Pharm, Ph.D
Prof. John Finberg was born in London (1943), and completed his formal education there, taking B.Pharm. degree with honours at King's College (Chelsea School of Pharmacy), and Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Imperial College (St Mary's Hospital), London University. Following immigration to Israel (1970), he carried out research on the human physiological response to hot environment at Soroka Medical Center, Beersheva, then left for post-doctoral studies at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, Nutley, New Jersey (1976-78). On return to Israel in 1978, he joined the Technion Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, as Senior Lecturer, rising to rank of full Professor (1995), and is currently Head of Department, and holds the Frances Brody Chair in the Life Sciences. Professor Finberg's research interest is in neuropharmacology, and he is a specialist in the drug treatment of Parkinson's disease. Together with Prof Moussa Youdim, he carried out the pre-clinical development of the selective MAO-B inhibitor drug rasagiline, whose clinical development was completed by Teva Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The drug is currently authorized for clinical use in the treatment of Parkinson's disease in Europe and USA. Prof Finberg has authored over 100 basic science articles, and a number of book chapters and review articles. He served for three years (2002-2004) as President of the Israel Society for Physiology and Pharmacology.

Rajesh Pahwa, M.D.
Dr. Pahwa received his M.B.B.S. (M.D.) degree at Seth G.S. Medical College, University of Bombay, India. He completed an internship in medicine at Baylor College of Medicine followed by a residency in Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He then completed a one year fellowship in movement disorders at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Pahwa joined the faculty of the Department of Neurology as an Instructor in 1992 and is currently Professor of Neurology. He is Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Dr. Pahwa is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Pahwa’s research interests are centered around the various aspects of Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. He is currently involved in various studies related to medical and surgical forms of therapies for Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. Dr. Pahwa has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. In addition he has published numerous chapters and abstracts in leading neurology and movement disorder journals. He has conducted over 50 clinical trials related to Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. He is the co-editor of “Handbook of Parkinson’s Disease”, 3rd and 4th editions, "Therapy of Parkinson's Disease", 3rd edition, “Handbook of Essential Tremor and other Tremor Disorders” 1st edition and co-author of the book “Parkinson’s Disease: Questions and Answers”, 4th edition.

Inder Verma , Ph.D
Dr. Verma has over 30 years of scientific research and development experience in the fields of molecular medicine, gene therapy, oncology and immunotherapy. He is currently an American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Biology in the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute, as well an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at University of California , San Diego . Dr. Verma is the past president of the American Society of Gene Therapy and recipient of an NIH Outstanding Investigatory award. Dr. Verma is also a member of several societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. and Institute of Medicine . He earned his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles.

Steve A. N. Goldstein M.A., M.D., Ph.D
Dr. Goldstein is a leading authority on the molecular mechanisms underlying normal cardiac function and sudden life-threatening diseases of the heart. In June 2004, Dr. Goldstein was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago . He was also appointed director of a new research institute dedicated to the field of molecular pediatrics and Physician-in-Chief of the Comer Children's Hospi tal in Chicago , IL . Prior to joining the University of Chicago , Dr. Goldstein was a full professor at Yale University . He is a coordinating editor of the Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics. Dr. Goldstein received PhD and MD degrees from Harvard University.

Jeffrey Olgin, MD Chief, Cardiac Electrophysiology, University of California
San-Francisco
Dr. Olgin received his BA and MD from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency, cardiology fellowship and cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. He returns to UCSF as Chief of Cardiac Electrophysiology after spending 7 years on faculty at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at Indiana University School of Medicine, where he developed an active program in ablation of atrial fibrillation. Dr. Olgin’s clinical interest is in ablation and device therapies for arrhythmias. He has developed novel techniques for ablation of atrial arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation.

Prof. Daniel Dagan Ph.D - Consultant
Prof. Dan iel Dagan (PhD) is an expert in ion channel modulation with emphasis on excitable systems. He served as member of the Bernard Katz Minerva Center for Cell Biophysics, and senior staff at the Technion Faculty of Medicine. He is currently serving as consultant to several hi-tech companies in the field of biotechnology.