Ms. Vagman holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the Hebrew University, and an M.A. in Political Science (public communications track), from Bar-Ilan University. She served as project manager in the Department of Planning and Development on the Second Authority for Television and Radio, organized professional study days and international conferences, and acted towards the promotion of media literacy for the general public. In her most recent post she served as Senior Assistant to the Deputy-Director of the Second Authority, and was involved in writing position papers on the regulation of communications.
Staff
Hadas Vagman, Chief Operating Officer & Researcher in Public Policy (M.A.)
Professor Laurence S. Freedman, Consultant on Statistics (Ph.D.)
Prof. Freedman holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Cambridge University, England (1969), a diploma in Statistics from University College, London (1971), an M.A. from Cambridge University (1974), and a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the same university (1999).
Before moving to Israel Prof. Freedman worked in England, as a statistician at the British Medical Research Council, and in the United States at the National Cancer Institute where he headed the Department of Biometry (1993-1996).
Prof. Freedman was a member of the team that implemented the Women's Health Initiative and the AARP Nutritional Cohort Study. He was Co-Editor of the international journals Statistics in Medicine, and laterBiometrics. He assisted in establishing the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the International Biometrics Society and was the first President for the Region. From1996 to 2006, he was Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Middle East Cancer Consortium Joint Cancer Registration Project, and was co-editor of a monograph on the incidence of cancer in the Middle East.
Prof. Freedman has published some 290 articles on a variety of methodological issues in medical research, particularly clinical trials, cancer epidemiology and nutrition.
Meirav Dolev, TNUDA Web Site Editor (B.A.)
Mrs. Dolev holds a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Haifa University. She has worked in the Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology Unit at the Gertner Institute since 1998, and serves as professional assistant to the Director of the Unit in a number of scientific areas. Her duties include supervision of the research budget of the unit, preparation of annual reports, background material for meetings, computerized presentations and posters.
Shira Ramot, Researcher on Policy and Legislation (LL.B)
Mrs. Ramot holds a B.A. in Law and Psychology, and an M.A. in Law from Bar-Ilan University. She specialized under the Deputy Head of the Magistrates Court, and is a licensed lawyer. She served as research and teaching assistant in Law and Psychology and in Company Law at Bar-Ilan University. Her most recent post was with the Israel Medical Association, producing documents on health and patients' rights.
Arnona Ziv, Consultant (B.A.; M.B.A.)
Ms. Ziv heads the Information and Computerization Unit of the Gertner Institute for Health Policy and Epidemiology. She qualified as programmer and systems analyst at the Center for Computing and Information Systems of the IDF. She holds a B.A.in Economics and Business Administration, and an M.B.A. in Information Systems.
The Information and Computerization Unit, under her direction, provides a variety of computer services, including advice on the planning and conducting of epidemiological studies and clinical trials, setting up national registers and information centers in the health system, development of information systems and their maintenance, for the Institute's units and for external organizations. The unit comprises a team of systems analysts, network managers, and programmers who specialize in systems development and data processing using the SAS program.
Dr. Amnon Duvdevany Researcher on Technology and Engineering (Ph.D.)
Dr. Amnon Duvdevany holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Electronics from Tel Aviv University (1985), an M.Sc. in Engineering Sciences from Tel Aviv University (1995) and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tel Aviv University (2004).
Dr. Duvdevany is an expert and a consultant on the risks of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation in humans, serves as a professional consultant to government ministries, public bodies and institutions (e.g. the Israeli Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene where he leads the activity at the national level), provides expert opinions and conducts academic teaching activities.
Dr. Duvdevany is a member of various committees on standards for radiation risks (such as the international standard IEEE C95.1), and regulatory committees on radiation risks in Israel, such as the National Public Committee for Protection against Magnetic Fields in the electricity grid range, ministerial committees, etc.
Dr. Duvdevany served as the responsible officer in the field of electromagnetic radiation in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Medical Corps Headquarters for 20 years (until 2012), where he was responsible for the protection of all IDF soldiers against the health risks of radiation. This post was designated a knowledge center by the MOD Administration for Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure. He continues to serve as an expert consultant to the IDF's Medical Corps Headquarters.
Chief areas of research
- Expertise in sources of radiation, modes of propagation of radiation, interaction of radiation with the human body and its effects at different levels (full body, organ, tissue, cell);
- Expertise in characterization and research on radiating equipment (a wide range of civil and military equipment, including complex systems) and its effects on living and occupational environments;
- Expertise in methods and tools for the measurement, calculation and assessment of exposure levels, and in engineering, administrative, procedural and safety methods to reduce exposure and minimize hazards from radiating equipment in living and occupational environments;
- Expertise in international standards of radiation protection, in the broad scientific and technical knowledge on which they rely, and in their practical application;
- Expertise in policies and regulation of radiation exposure, and their practical application at the national level.
Galit Hirsh-Yechezkel, Senior Epidemiologist (PhD)
Dr. Galit Hirsh-Yechezkel holds a B.A in Agriculture from the Hebrew University, M.Sc in Human Genetic from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and Ph.D in Epidemiology from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Tel-Aviv University.
Dr. Hirsh serves as a senior investigator at the Gertner Institue for Epidemoilogy & Health Policy Research for the past 25 years,and focuses in 2 main research fields: Cancer & Radiation Epidemiology and Woman & Child's Health. Dr. Hirsh investigates the association between exposure to non-ionizing radiation (mainly radiation emitted from cell phones) and health effects among children. She has led an educational program for cellphone educated use among adolescents ("Mobile Generation" program).
Scientific contribution in the past
Professor Siegal Sadetzki, Director (2013-2018), (M.D., M.P.H)
Prof. Sadetzki, specialist in public health and epidemiology, received a degree in Medicine from the Technion (Haifa) and a Master of Public Health from the Hebrew University (Jerusalem). She served as Director of the Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology Unit at the Gertner Institute between the years 2000-2018, and since 2001 serves as Principal Investigator of the Baruch Modan National Institute for 'Tinea Capitis' (scalp ringworm) research. In 2017 she was appointed Full Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. She has published more than 150 articles in the scientific literature and three chapters in textbooks. Prof. Sadetzki was actively engaged in research on cancer and on ionizing and non-ionizing radiation and was involved in a number of studies examining the environmental and genetic causes of brain tumors.
Prof. Sadetzki is considered a national and international expert on non-ionizing radiation, and has served as principal investigator in the Israeli branch of a number of studies that examined the possible connection between exposure to mobile phones and other radiation-emitting devices, and the development of brain tumors in adults (the INTERPHONE study), and in children and adolescents (the MOBIKIDS study). These international studies, (as well as the GERoNiMo Study, that examines a range of aspects of potential health risks arising from the use of wireless communication), are funded by the European Union.
Prof. Sadetzki has vast experience in policy making regarding health in general and non-ionizing radiation in particular, and for the past 15 years has served as consultant to the Ministry of Health and other policy-making bodies engaged in this field. Among her activities, the following should be mentioned: consolidation of the content of the 'precautionary principle' in Israel and its application to health; elaborating recommendations for the Ministry of Health on the use of mobile and cordless phones; reviewing the effects of exposure to non-ionizing radiation in the environment of school children (including exposure to the electricity grid, mobile phones and wireless communication networks – Wi-Fi) and counselling the Ministry of Education on the protection school children; initiation of an intervention program regarding the educated use of mobile phones in the school children's environments (in collaboration with the Ministry of Education); counselling in determining the standards for electromagnetic radiation in the electricity grid, and the position regarding the introduction of '4th Generation' phones in Israel.
Prof. Sadetzki possesses wide international expertise in this field, and represented the Ministry of Health on the World Health Organization's Advisory Committee on the subject of electromagnetic fields (EMF). She has been invited to express an expert opinion before the American Congress at a hearing on non-ionizing radiation (2009), and before the US Government Accountability Office – GAO.
Since 2019, Prof. Siegal Sadetzki serves as the Director of Public Health Services at the Israeli Ministry of Health.
Dr. Reuven Zemach (Ph.D.)
Dr. Zemach has a B.Sc in Mathematics and Physics from the Hebrew University (Jerusalem), an M.Sc and Ph.D in Physics from the Technion (Haifa), and a post-doctorate from Brandeis University, USA. He coordinated aspects of environment, in particular radiation aspects, for the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality. He headed and coordinated surveys and research studies at the Holon Institute of Technology and the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality on the assessment of levels of exposure to non-ionizing radiation in the urban environment. Dr. Zemach served as guest lecturer for two years in the Department of Communication Engineering at the Holon Institute of Technology.
Dr. Zemach served as a researcher (technology & engineering) between 2013-2015.
Dr. Shaiela Kandel (Ph.D.)
Dr. Kandel holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the Tel Aviv University, an M.Sc. in Environmental Science from Rochester University, New York, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is experienced in international regulation, research, and counseling on non-ionizing radiation.
As an expert on radiation safety and regulation of non-ionizing radiation, she is actively involved in a number of international research projects on radiation protection and policy-making. She has served as a consultant to a number of public and private bodies, in Israel and abroad, especially on radio frequency (RF) and extremely-low frequency (ELF). Dr. Kandel was in charge of health and environment in the field of radiation safety at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, and served as the regulator on this subject for the Ministry of Environmental Protection. She was a key contributor to the formulation of the legislation and policy regarding non-ionizing radiation in Israel. She is a member of a number of teams formulating recommendations in Israel and abroad on environmental health risk management and regulation, and non-ionizing radiation safety.
Dr. Kandel serves as consultant to the International EMF project of the World Health Organization regarding a world-wide policy for RF and ELF. She represented Israel in coordinating a European Science and Technology study on non-ionizing radiation (COST 0704BM). She is responsible for the Israeli branch of the international study, TransExpo, dealing with the possible relationship between the exposure of children to power frequency electromagnetic fields and morbidity. Dr. Kandel is a member of a number of professional Israeli and international organizations, and has published articles on various subjects in the field.
Dr. Kandel served as a consultant (policy & legislation) between 2014-2016.
Dr. Sharon Furman-Assaf (B.Pharm.; M.Sc.; Ph.D.)
Dr. Furman-Assaf obtained a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy and a Master's degree in Medical Sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in Biology from Tel Aviv University. She conducted post-doctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot and later worked in neurobiology research at Tel Aviv University. Sharon was involved in a number of studies at the Israel Center for Technology Assessment in Health Care at the Gertner Institute, including reimbursement policy for orphan drugs in Israel; taxation policy regarding unhealthy snacks and beverages to promote public health and prevent obesity in Israel; and community medication therapy management of polypharmacy patients from the pharmacist's point of view. She is engaged in scientific and biomedical writing.
Dr. Furman-Assaf served as a senior Investigator (epidemiology) between 2013-2016.
Dr. Refael Barkan (M.D.; Ph.D.)
Dr. Barkan is a medical doctor who specialized in neurology and holds a doctorate in Neuroscience from the School of Medicine and the Life Sciences Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Computer Sciences from Bar Ilan University.
Dr. Barkan heads the Research and Development Authority of the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT). He is a researcher in the field of medical informatics and medical software and hardware technologies. He participates in national and international research and development projects on medical informatics and brain sciences, in collaboration with medical centers and research institutes in Israel and abroad.
Dr. Barkan served as the coordinator responsible for technological research & development in 2015.
We would also like to mention the contribution of the following former staff members of Tnuda: Tova Amitai, Liat Arnon, Dr. Shiraz Kalir, Prof. Motti Haridim & Gal Steinhart.
