CEO of Sanara Ventures Chairman, Life Science Advisory Board at The Israel Export Institute

Mr. Assaf Barnea, CEO of Sanara Ventures is a seasoned entrepreneur and venture professional with significant multidisciplinary experience in building innovation platforms and commercialization processes in healthcare and Cleantech. Sanara Ventures is a healthcare investment platform, jointly held by Teva Pharmaceuticals and Philips Healthcare.

Assaf is also a business consultant at the World bank/IFC venture capital team, supporting the IFC’s investments in technologies that are relevant for developing countries. Formerly, Assaf was the CEO of Kinrot Ventures, the leading seed investor in water technologies worldwide.

Kinrot is privately held by Hutchison water that acquired Kinrot Ventures in 2012. Previously, Assaf was managing the Business Development activity at Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, where he oversaw the establishment of WaTech – the Entrepreneurship & Parmball at Israel’s top division and was a member of the Israeli national basketball team. In April 2013, Mr. Barnea was awarded with the Innovation Hero Award by the global Cleantech group

Director, Division of Medicine, Maccabi HealthCare Services Born in Israel 1961. Married to Shifra (pediatric oncologist) and father to twin boys and a daughter. Received his MD degree from Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University in 1986. Completed his residency in Internal Medicine in 1997. In 2001 Prof. Ash received MS degree in Medical Informatics from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health, Sciences and Technology, Boston, USA. Prof. Ash has also a Master degree in political sciences from the University of Haifa. Prof. Ash has been a military physician for 25 years. He retired in the rank of Brigadier General on 2011, after completing intensive 4 years as the Surgeon General of the IDF. During this position Prof. Ash was in charge of deploying a field hospital to Haiti (Jan. 2010) and Japan (Apr. 2011) during the natural disasters that came upon these countries. Between Jan 2012 and July 2013 Prof. Ash served in the Ministry of Health as a senior Deputy Director General for Health Informatics. In this position he was responsible for Health Information Technology and Information Management in the Israeli health system. On August 2013 Prof. Ash joined Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS), the second largest HMO in Israel, as the chief Director of “Sharon” district. A year later he was promoted to be the Director of the Health Division of MHS Also serving as Deputy CEO for Health Affairs, a position that he holds currently. Nachman Ash is a Professor at Ariel University, the school of Health Sciences, the department of health systems management.

Prof. Arnon Afek is the Associate Director General, the Acting Director of Sheba General Hospital and the Chairman of the Department of Medical Administration at the Sheba Medical Center after completing his tenure
as the Director General (DG) and the Associate Medical DG of the Israeli Ministry of Health (2014-17). In the MOH, Prof Afek led the reforms in Psychiatric Care, the regulation of Cannabis for Medical use and Public transparency in the publishing the outcomes of Hospitals quality indicators.
He is the Founding Chairman of the National council on Pathology and Forensic Medicine In 2015, Prof. Afek was personally appointed as a member of the Bureau of Governors of the OECD Health Committee, taking a role in designing health policy in the OECD. Since 2011, Prof. Afek also serves as the Director of the NY State/American MD Program and Professor of Public Health at the Sackler School of Medicine and the Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University. He is a Professor at the Nicosia University Medical School, Cyprus. He chaired the Committee that recommended the establishment of the Sheldon & Miriam Adelson Medical
School in Ariel. Previously, Prof. Afek was the Director of Medical Affairs, Head of the Emergency Services of the Israeli Ministry of Health (2012-2014) and the Deputy Director of Sheba General Hospital (2007-2012).
Prof. Afek is a Col. (res) and a member of the IDF-MC Helsinki (IRB) Committee and has previously served as the Head of Occupational Medicine and Medical Classification Branch as well as the Chairman of the Department of Medical Administration at the IDF Medical Corps (2004-7).
Dr. Arnon Afek received his medical training at the Hebrew University and Hadassah School of Medicine
(1981-1987), residency in Anatomical Pathology at the Sheba Medical Center and fellowship in Medical Administration (board certified Cum Laude) at the Sheba Medical Center and at the Ministry of Health. He completed M.A in Health Administration Cum Laude at Ben-Gurion University (2000-2002).
He is a graduate of the Wexner Senior Leadership Executive Program (WSLP 16), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

• Associate Director General, Sheba Medical Center Acting Director of Sheba General Hospital.
• Director of the NY State /American MD Program, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
• Chairman, the National Council of Pathology and Forensic Medicine
• Former Director General , Israeli Ministry of Health
• Former member, Bureau of Governors of the OECD Health Committee

Prof. Afek has published more than 150 peer reviewed papers in the medical literature including in NEJM,
JAMA Lancet and Circulation and has received numerous awards, including the Tel Aviv University Rector's
Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Kellerman Award and the Goldberg Award, both for research in
Cardiology; the Israel National Quality Award and the Award of Excellence in Military Medicine. He was awarded in 2016 the Israeli Civil Service Commission Award for reducing bureaucracy in physician licensing and Quality Improvement Award for advancing quality of care in Neonatal Units throughout Israel.
In 2017 Prof Afek received the Society for Patients' Rights in Israel "Certificate of Recognition for the contribution to Patients healthcare".
He lecturers in numerous medical conferences and delivered The John M. Eisenberg, M.D. International Lecture at The Commonwealth Fund's 18th Annual International Symposium on Health Care Policy.
He is married to a Pediatric Dentist, Dr. Limor Afek, and they live in Rosh Ha’ayin with their two children Shahar and Oren.

Head of the Foreign Trade Administration, Ministry of Economy and Industry, Israel

A diplomat specializing in international trade, Ohad Cohen was appointed Head of the Ministry of Economy and Industry’s Foreign Trade Administration in May 2012. As Director of the Foreign Trade Administration, he leads an organization with a staff of over 250, an annual budget of 220 million NIS and 50 trade offices worldwide.

The Foreign Trade Administration at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry directs Israel’s trade policy and promotes Israel’s high-tech and traditional industries worldwide by supporting and boosting Israeli exports, attracting foreign direct investment to Israel, facilitating strategic partnerships between Israeli and foreign  governments and companies, fostering robust relations between Israeli and foreign industries , and  initiating and managing Israel’s trade agreements. He served in the IDF from 1989 to 1993, after which he earned a BA in Economics and a Masters of Business Administration at the University of Haifa.

After graduating university, he joined Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry where he worked in the Foreign Trade Administration in its Middle East Department. In 1998, he was appointed Commercial Attaché in Amman, Jordan, where he also led the Israeli delegation to the joint Israeli-Jordanian Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) Committee.

From 2000 to 2004 he served as Commercial Attaché to Sweden, Finland and Norway. He then returned to Israel to Lead the Commercial Attaché Cadets Course, making him responsible for training the next generation of Israel’s diplomatic commercial specialists.

From 2007 to 2012 Mr. Cohen served as Commercial Attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC.

Mr. Cohen was born in Israel, is married to Monika and has three children.

Chairman of Sun Pharma
Chairman of Bio-Light life Sciences Ltd.
Chairman of Micromedic Technologies Ltd.

Mr Israel Makov is Chairman of SUN Pharmaceutical Industries Limited – the world’s 5^th largest specialty generic pharma company, the Chairman of BioLight – an emerging global ophthalmic company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of products for ophthalmic conditions and Chairman of Micromedic Technologies Ltd. – a cluster of companies engaged in cancer diagnostics.

Mr Makov is the former Chairman of Given Imaging – the developer and world’s leading provider of capsule endoscopy and Netafim – the pioneer and global leader in smart irrigation solutions.

Mr. Makov is the former President & CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. He led the company’s global expansion and under his leadership Teva became the undisputed global leader in the generic pharmaceutical industry and a global leader in the treatment of Multiple sclerosis.

Mr Makov is a member of the Board of Directors of the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative, an initiative he also helped found. He is a member of the Executive Board & Management Committee of the Weizmann Institute of Science, on the Board of Governors of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and President of the Friends of Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel.  Mr. Makov is also Chairman of the Friends of Gesher Theatre, one of Israel’s leading theaters, and is involved in many other charitable activities.

Rafael Beyar, MD, DSc, MPH, and Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, is the director of Rambam Health Care Campus, since 2006, a leading academic referral hospital in Northern Israel. Beyar received his MD from Tel Aviv University (1977), a DSc from the Technion (1983), and his MPH from the Bloomberg School of Public Health (2008). He trained at Johns Hopkins Cardiology and has held a visiting Professor appointment there. Beyar served as Dean of the Technion’s Ruth & Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine (1999–2005); under his leadership, Professors Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004. An interventional cardiologist with research focusing on cardiovascular engineering, development of stents, and the first robotic coronary catheterization system, Beyar has authored numerous publications, several patents, 15 books, and is a recipient of several awards.

Beyar successfully led the hospital staff through the 2006 Second Lebanon War, during which the hospital was under fire. Following the war, Beyar led the hospital through a massive development plan with a vision that emphasizes the intertwining of superb medical care with education, research, and innovation. He led the administration in building a new campus with a 2,000-bed fortified underground emergency hospital, a modern children’s hospital, an advanced oncology center and an interdisciplinary heart hospital. The Health Discovery Tower, at the center of the campus, is a joint project with the University of Haifa and the Technion—integrating clinical, academic, and industry activities. Beyar also spearheaded the founding of Rambam MedTech, the hospital’s technology transfer company and has led the hospital towards an innovative, first of a kind, joint effort with Medtronic, IBM, and Pitango-Impact First, to establish the MindUp Incubator on Digital Health in early 2016 in Haifa.

Angela W. Rabinovich is leading Life Science industry department at the Israeli Export and International Cooperation Institute. IEICI is a not-for-profit organization supported by the government of Israel and the private sector to advance the integration of Israeli companies into the global market.

On the daily base Angela is responsible for constant interaction with more than 500 Israeli exporters in the field of Medical Devices, Health Care IT and BioPharma: analyzing their needs, identifying target markets and business opportunities generating export oriented activities (form formal delegations to tailor made business visits).

Israeli National Pavilion at Medica (Germany), Hospitalar (Brazil) exhibitions, North American Hospital CEO Delegation and MEDinISRAEL are among recent successful projects under Angela’s leadership.

Her professional career started in 2004 at Orgenics Ltd. Under her first responsibility were products’ registration projects in Eastern Europe countries; later as Customer and Sales Manager for CIS countries. Since Orgenics has been owned by Inverness Medical Innovation, today Aler (based in US) Angela has been promoted for Business Development Manager for Asia Pacific region.

During that period she acquired wide experience in such fields like SelfCare, Point of Care and Rapid Diagnostics for Infectious Disease, Cardiovascular, Oncology, Women Health as well as in Clinical Laboratories diagnostic & research tools.

Principal Competitors: Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; Abbott Laboratories; Roche Group. Angela holds BA in International Relations and EMBA from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Angela is fluent in English, Hebrew, Russian and Ukrainian.

Prof. Ran Balicer, MD, PhD, MPH serves as Founding Director of the Clalit Research Institute, the WHO Collaborating Center on Non-Communicable Diseases Research, Prevention and Control. In Parallel, he serves as Director of Innovation and Director of the Health Policy Planning Dpt. for Clalit – Israel’s largest healthcare organization.

In these roles, he is responsible for strategic planning of novel organization-wide interventions for improving healthcare quality, reducing disparities and increasing effectiveness.

These include the introduction of innovative data-driven tools into practice – predictive modeling, real-life effectiveness studies, decision support tools and proactive care models.

Prof Balicer serves as a Public Health Professor and MPH Track Director at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, as Chair of the Israeli Society for Quality in Healthcare, and as an Advisor to the World Health Organization, in projects focusing on non-communicable diseases monitoring, prevention and control, Healthy Aging and Integrated Healthcare Systems.

Tomer Epstein is the Medical Device & Digital Health Sector Manager at the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute. He studied Medical Engineering at Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College where he focused on mechanics of physiological systems and being engaged in innovative medical device development for improving cognitive activity among disabled and brain damaged patients; then proceeded to the distinguished MoTIE Program at Tel Aviv University (MBA in Management of Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship).

For more than five years working at the Israel Export Institute he worked closely with more than 800 Israeli Life Science companies and startups, Tomer is particularly deep in Medical Device & Digital Health understanding their commercial needs abroad, identifying target markets and business opportunities, thus generating export oriented activities – all this through continuous communication with multinational and local companies and tight cooperation with the Foreign Diplomats and Israeli Commercial Attachés all over the world. Tomer runs the business activity of the Israeli National Pavilion pavilions on stage of MEDICA (Germany), HIMSS (US), CMEF (China), Africa Health (South Africa), MEDinISRAEL; he has a strong background in both trade and business development perspective and as a medical engineer he’s of course deeply into crazy range of tech developments and their advantages.