Prof. Zvia Agur – President
Professor Zvia Agur is Founder and President of the scientific research Institute for Medical BioMathematics (IMBM). As the senior scientist in IMBM, ZA is responsible for the innovative aspects and the soundness of the scientific concepts and methodologies developed in IMBM. ZA has more than four decades of scientific research in mathematical biomedicine and over twenty years of experience in leading technology development in the Healthcare domain. During these years she has made major contributions to the theory of disease dynamics, chemotherapy optimization and vaccination policies. She has led innovative development and was initiator and co-author of 15 granted USA, European and international patents. She has been Co-Founder & President of the Israeli Society of Theoretical and Mathematical Biology and Co-Founder & Member of the Board of Directors of the European Society of Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ESMTB). Agur was a 2016 finalist for the EU Prize for Women Innovators and was elected to the rank of 2022 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for “developing computational models of diseases and incorporating these into medical software devices to facilitate drug development and personalized patient treatment.”
Yuri Kogan
Yuri Kogan holds a BA degree in Theoretical Mathematics from Tel-Aviv University (TAU). Over many years of scientific research at IMBM, he has been involved in biomathematical modeling of several cancer indications, including Prostate cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, as well as in the research of cancer stem cells, intracellular signal transduction, immune system functioning, and clinical immunotherapy, drug treatment optimization and others.
Diane Sakarovitch
Diane Sakarovitch holds an M.Sc. degree in Medical Engineering from the KTH Royal Institute in Stockholm (Sweden), as well as a master’s. degree in General Engineering from Ecole Centrale Lyon (France). Her master thesis project, under the supervision of Jeffrey Omens at UCSD (California, USA), focused on the electrical activation of the ventricle heart cells (more specifically the Purkinje system). Before joining IMBM in May 2023, Diane worked as a Biomedical Engineer for a biotechnology start-up company (Elfi-Tech) in the field of medical device development. At present, she is involved in the melanoma project, where she validates and improves the melanoma immunotherapy algorithm, using patient data from IMBM’s collaboration with the Victorian Melanoma Service in Victoria (Australia). Following the completion of this project, Diane is scheduled to lead the development of the COVID-19 disease progression model.
Yoel Tepper
Yoel Tepper is in his final year of undergraduate studies in Theoretical Mathematics at Tel-Aviv University (TAU). He joined IMBM in September 2023, and at present, he is involved in the ‘sepsis and septic shock’ project. In this project he aims to develop a clinical decision-making algorithm for identifying patients at risk of imminent deterioration due to sepsis. Subsequently, the algorithm will be extended to other inflammatory diseases.
Dr. Alexander Ryvkin
Alexander Ryvkin graduated from Ural State University (Ekaterinburg, Russia) with a M.Sc. in theoretical physics and a PhD in theoretical biophysics. His early career included significant research at the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he focused on the theoretical aspects of cardiac pacemaker cells, ranging from submolecular to cellular levels.
As an assistant professor at Ural Federal University in Ekaterinburg, he taught courses on Biophysics and Mathematical Modeling in Biology. He is a member of the International Biophysical Society and has participated in numerous international conferences.
Alexander has experience in the experimental study of neuronal electric activity, which he pursued at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel.
Dr. Gil Katz
PhD in immunology and tumor immunology from the Hebrew university in Jerusalem focusing on activating and inhibitory receptors expressed on Natural Killer (NK) cells that are involved in tumor cell recognition.
Visiting fellow position at National Institutes of Health (NIH) studying T cell development and the interplay between T cell receptor (TCR) signaling and cytokine signaling.
Research fellow position at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) investigating the mechanisms of apoptosis induction in restimulated T cells and pathologies related to defects in T cell apoptosis. At USUHS also served as basic science instructor in immunology in research training programs.
Worked as senior scientist and project leader in biotech companies developing cancer immunotherapies, including NK-CAR (Cimeric Antigen Receptor), immune checkpoint inhibitors, and T cell engagers.
Dorit Dror
Dorit is the Administrative Manager of IMBM. She holds a B.A. degree in English Literature and Information Science from Bar-Ilan University. Her primary responsibility in IMBM is providing quality services to ensure successful finance and personnel management of IMBM’s scientific and administrative members and visitors the latter include Israeli and foreign scientists and students, engineering trainees, as well as post-doctorate students at IMBM. In her work she also maintains IMBM’s information center, builds data retrieval applications and is in charge of the institute’ Internet site.
As the administrator of IMBM, a non-profit organization, Dorit is also in charge of IMBM’s “Amutah”, organizing board meetings, preparing board minutes, and presenting budget and annual reports to the organization’s lawyers and accountants. She organizes and oversees the logistical activities in the office, procurement activities and staff workload oversight.
