Board of Directors
Meet the leadership of the Cuenca Institute: the Head and Board of Directors, who shape the institute's vision and strategic direction
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Prof. Rachel Dankner | Head of the Institute |
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Prof. Rachel Dankner, M.D., M.P.H., is the Director of the Center for Public Health Research and Chief Epidemiologist of the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Sheba Medical Center, as well as the Director of the Reuth Institute for Research, Development and Innovation at the Reuth Tel-Aviv Rehabilitation and Geriatric hospital.
She is a Full Professor at the Department for Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Tel Aviv Faculty of Medicine and a Public Health physician and serves as Head of the public health residency examinations committee.
Prof. Dankner graduated in medicine at the Hebrew University and earned her M.P.H. degree at the John's Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She holds a Diploma in Sports Medicine from the Tel Aviv Continuing Education program and is a certified sports physician and marine physician.
Prof. Dankner's research focuses on risk factors and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, with an emphasis on lifestyle modifications. She established several cohorts of heart patients, stroke survivors, and diabetic patients, which serve in her longitudinal epidemiologic studies of adult and elderly populations.
To view Prof. Racheli Dankner’s list of publications, click here >> |
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Prof. Ramit Ravona | Board of Directors |
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Prof. Ramit Ravona is a geriatric psychiatrist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Tel Aviv University. She leads a multidisciplinary clinical unit at the Sheba Medical Center specializing in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms associated with dementia and neurodegenerative disorders. The unit utilizes state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures for dementia and provides advanced treatments for Alzheimer's disease.
Prof. Ravona's research centers on identifying risk factors and mechanisms that drive cognitive decline and dementia. She serves as Project Director for two major longitudinal studies: the Israel Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (IRAP), focused on offspring of Alzheimer's patients, and the Israel Diabetes and Cognitive Decline (IDCD) study, which investigates dementia risk in older adults with type 2 diabetes.
In recent years, Prof. Ravona has broadened her research to explore non-cognitive aspects of aging and dementia, with a particular emphasis on behavioral and emotional symptoms. Her work aims to enhance measurement tools for these symptoms, such as apathy, while examining their cognitive and neurological underpinnings. Ultimately, her research seeks to develop early disease markers and therapeutic strategies targeting these critical areas.
To view Prof. Ramit Ravona’s list of publications, click here >> |
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Prof. Tali Cukierman-Yaffe | Board of Directors |
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Her research focuses on the challenge of treating diabetes in older age. She has published many articles and has given numerous talks on this topic. Prof. Cukierman-Yaffe is part of working groups that develop local and international guidelines on this topic and is a frequently invited advisor in forums dealing with this subject. She was Principal Investigator (PI), and took a key role in several cognitive sub-studies of large Cardiovascular trials in people with diabetes.
In the last several years her research has also been focused on finding technological solutions to improve the care of older people with diabetes. This includes the development of machine learning (ML) models for the assessment of cognitive & physical health agility. She is currently the PI of several trials: one assessing the efficacy in glucose control and physical health agility status of an automated insulin delivery (AID) system in older people with type 1 diabetes; another focused on prevention of sarcopenia in new GLP-1 receptor agonists users; and a BIRAX funded study aiming to further develop a technological ML platform for the assessment of physical health agility in older people with diabetes.
To view Prof. Tali Cukierman-Yaffe’s list of publications, click here >> |
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Dr. Sharon Stein Merkin | Board of Directors |
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The focus area of Dr. Merkin’s research is in examining the role of social determinants of health in assessing population health disparities and in particular, in exploring how psychosocial and socioeconomic factors impact biological processes of disease risk and aging.
Dr. Merkin is a trained epidemiologist, with extensive experience in analyzing data from a variety of studies, including complex, longitudinal data from community-based multi-center studies, and leads a number of ongoing research collaborations both in Israel and the United States.
To view Dr. Sharon Stein Merkin’s list of publications, click here >> Visit the personal CRIS profile >> |
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Dr. Violetta Rozani | Board of Directors |
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Dr. Rozani's research emphasizes quality of life, personal resilience, and self-care capabilities among older adult patients. A central aspect of her work is dedicated to the well-being of family caregivers who support relatives living with complex chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and psychiatric illnesses. Her studies explore issues related to rights navigation, emotional burden, and long-term support. She investigates the impact of innovative interventions aimed at improving physical, emotional, and functional coping, for both patients and caregivers, including therapeutic gardening, animal-assisted therapy, and more.
In parallel, Dr. Rozani is committed to strengthening the professional role of nurses within the healthcare system. Her work highlights professional autonomy, advanced clinical competence, expanded scopes of practice, and evidence-based leadership. Her research in this area focuses on the processes of training, empowerment, and professional development of nurses, and on their contribution to improving care quality and promoting health across both inpatient and community settings.
To view Dr. Violetta Rozani’s list of publications, click here >> Visit the personal CRIS profile >> |
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Prof. Tali Cukierman-Yaffe is an endocrinologist, clinical epidemiologist. She is the Head of the Centre for Successful Aging with Diabetes, Head of the Endocrinology and Diabetes Service for Women & in Pregnancy at the Division of Endocrinology & Diabetes, an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, and a member of the Herczeg Institute on Aging. She is also a Senior International Fellow at PHRI, Mcmaster University.
Dr. Sharon Stein Merkin is a Senior Researcher at the Gertner Institute of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research at Sheba Medical Center as well as Adjunct Professor at the Division of Geriatrics at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine.
Dr. Violetta Rozani is a registered nurse with a bachelor's and master's degree in Nursing Sciences, and a PhD in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine from Tel Aviv University. She currently serves as a lecturer and senior faculty member in the Department of Nursing Sciences at the Gray Faculty of Medicine, where she conducts applied research focusing on the aging population and the challenges of chronic illness within the healthcare system.Explore
