Management

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  Itschak Lamensdorf, Ph.D.

  
  
  

  President & CEO

   

  Dr. Lamensdorf founded Pharmaseed in 2003, and has been responsible for its scientific course of expansion, national and international collaborations and staff excellence. He was the founder and CEO of PharmaSense in 2001, a biotechnology company that specialized in the treatment of CNS disorders. Dr. Lamensdorf holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Faculty of Medicine of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and a B.S. and M.Sc. in Clinical Pharmacy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Medical School. He held postdoctoral positions at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland and at the Molecular Genetics Department of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. 

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  Prof. Aharon (Ronnie) Levy

  
  
  

  Chief Science Officer 

   

  Prof. Levy joined Pharmaseed in 2010 and serves as Chief Science Officer as well as liaison to Pharmaseed’s Scientific Advisory Board. Prof. Levy was the Head of the Radiochemistry Department at the Nuclear Research Center in the Negev (NRCN) for 13 years (1965-1973). During the years 1977 and 2007 he served at the Israel Institute of Biological Reseach (IIBR), 13 of those years as Head of the Pharmacology Department. Professor Levy holds a PhD degree of the Hebrew University in chemistry, post-doc training in pharmacology at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology and a full professor nomination at Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva. Prof. Levy attended several Sabbaticals where he conducted research activities at renowned institutes. Between 1995 and 2000 Prof. Levy served on the Board of Directors of the Dead Sea Bromine Group as head of the Research Committee.

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  Judith Ben-Porath PhD

  
  
  

  VP Research and Development

   

  Dr. Ben-Porath joined Pharmaseed in 2010 and was nominated VP of R&D in 2011 where she oversees all experiment activities. Dr. Ben-Porath has 10 over years of experience in drug development, from early building of research teams and facilities, through management of concurrent projects and delivery to clinical trials. Dr Ben-Porath brings extensive experience in management of inter-disciplinary teams, international projects and joint development programs. Between 2006-2009, she served as a Director of Immunotherapy at Intellect Neurosciences and between 2000-2006 as Project Manager at XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. Dr. Ben-Porath’s previous roles include a Research Scientist role at the Ben Gurion University during 2010, specializing in immunotherapy of Alzheimer Disease. Her expertise includes CNS therapies, immunotherapy and proof of concept of small molecules. Dr. Ben-Porath received her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and M.Sc. from SUNY at Stony Brook.

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  Yoram Sela PhD.

  
  
  

  Head of Pharmaceutical Scientific Board

   

  Dr. Sela joined Pharmaseed in 2009 after being involved in corporate pharmaceutical research and development for the last two decades. He was Vice President for R&D at Nesher Solutions (2008-2010) and LycoRed (2004-2008) as well as a Co-Founder and Head of R&D at Karma Pharm (2000-2004). In the 1990s, Dr. Sela set up and managed the drug-delivery unit at Teva Pharmaceuticals and has since continuously served as director for several early-stage biotechnology companies. He holds a Ph.D. and MSc. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry.