About Save A Heart Foundation
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SAVE A HEART FOUNDATION provides Research Fellowships for Israeli medical specialists in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Divisions of Cardiology, Cardio-thoracic Surgery, Neurology and in Medical Genetics. Established experts teach and guide the Fellows who participate in research for up to two years, after which they return to Israel. This vital program benefits patients in our community, our country and the world.
Save a Heart Foundation is also committed to educating the public about new developments in health and cardiac care through free community health symposia.
Save A Heart Foundation is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization and relies solely on private donations and the efforts of volunteers.
Simon Biner, M.D. is a first year fellow working under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Siegel, Director of Cardiac Non-Invasive Laboratory at Cedars-Sinai. He views his fellowship as an opportunity to advance his skills in echocardiography as well as to study specific new technologies including miocardial perfusion imaging and 3-D echo. “These technologies provide optimal treatment for patients with heart failure,” says Dr. Biner. "But they are just in their beginning in Israel." During his time at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Biner will also mentor under Dr. Larry Czar in heart transplantation.
At the completion of his fellowship, Dr. Biner will return to Israel to implement the skills he acquired in the program. “I plan to expand Ichalov Hospital’s valvular heart disease clinic and deliver up-to-date, contemporary technologies to our patients,” he explains.
Ariel Gutstein, M.D. values the opportunities presented in Cardiac Imaging as he begins the second year of his fellowship under mentor Daniel Berman, M.D. Prior to his fellowship, Dr. Gutstein believed that CT and MRI could perhaps replace SPCT imaging. After intensive exposure to the techniques, he concludes that SPECT is complimentary to CT as Dr. Berman and his team are continually innovating systems.
At the completion of his fellowship, Dr. Gutstein will join the developing CT and MRI program at Tel Hashomer Hospital. “I look forward to helping advance this technology in my country,” he says.
Tal Tirosh-Wagner, M.D., SAHF’s first pediatrician, is a research fellow in Pediatric Genetics under mentor, Dr. Julie r. Korenberg, CSMC Vice Chair for Pediatrics, Research. Dr. Tirosh-Wagner’s research involves chromosomal abnormalities and congenital heart disease specifically as it presents in Down Syndrome.
After completing her fellowship, Dr. Tirosh-Wagner will return to Safra Children’s Hospital. “I plan to use the knowledge acquired at CSMC in both clinical and research work at Tel Hashomer.”
Arik Wolak, M.D., in the second year of his fellowship under mentor Daniel Berman, M.D., appreciates the variety and volume of patients at CSMC, the diverse population helps him gain experience in planning, overseeing and reading Cardiac CT scans and Cardiac MRI’s.
Upon completion of his fellowship he plans to join SAHF alumni, Dr. Sergio Kobal and Doron Zahger in the Cardiology Division at Soroka University Medical Center in Be’er-Sheba to start a cardiac imaging service. “My service here,” says Dr. Wolak, “will provide the opportunity to give the people of the Negev access to immediate, available, high tech cardiac diagnostic service.”
SAHF OFFICERS & BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Yzhar Charuzi M.D., President
June Winkler, Chairman
Seymour Fagan, Secretary
Mark K. Urman, M.D., Treasurer
Daniel S. Berman M.D.
Aron Bick M.D.
Danny Dimbort
Eugene Flaum M.D.
James S. Forrester M.D.
Eli S. Gang M.D.
William Ganz M.D.
Ivor L. Geft M.D.
Robert Goldstein Ph.D.
John G. Harold M.D.
Helen Jacobs-Lepor
Bernice “Toots” Kaplan
Asher Kimchi M.D.
Nathan Krems
Norman E. Lepor M.D.
Frank Litvack M.D.
Michael Mann
Y.H. Rutenberg Ph.D.
Herbert Schaffer
Martin Shapiro
Steven Tabak M.D.
Ronald R. Berez, M.D.
Aurelio Chaux, M.D.
Harold S. Marcus, M.D.