Home > About Pluristem

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company using placental cells and a unique, proprietary, three-dimensional (3D) technology platform to develop cell therapies for conditions such as inflammation, muscle injuries, hematological disorders and exposure to radiation.

Our vision

Our vision is to leverage our advanced technology and our position as a global leader in cell therapy to develop, manufacture and market highly effective cell products that will heal patients around the world.

Our strategy

Our strategy is to develop powerful cell therapies that can be successfully commercialized to reach patients who need innovative treatment options. We develop placenta-derived, “off-the-shelf” products that do not require genetic or tissue matching prior to administration and could be delivered in almost any clinical setting. We design distinct cell products to target a variety of indications, and anticipate that a pipeline of differentiated products and indications will allow us to target large global markets. We explore new partnerships to advance our clinical development programs, while maintaining our strong commitment to current corporate, academic and government collaborations.

Management Team

    • Yaky Yanay
    • CEO & President
    • Mr. Yaky Yanay was appointed as President from February 2014 and as CEO from June 2019, after a period of being Co-CEO since March 2017. Mr. Yanay served in variety of executive positions in Pluristem since 2006 including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President. Mr. Yanay is the former Co-Chairman and current board member of Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI), the largest umbrella organization representing Israel’s life science and high-tech industries. Mr. Yanay founded over the years several activities and organizations to promote and support the Israeli life science industry. Before joining Pluristem, Mr. Yanay was the Chief Financial Officer of Elbit Vision Systems Ltd. a public, machine vision, high-tech company. Prior to that Mr. Yanay served as manager at Ernst & Young Israel. Mr. Yanay holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in business administration and accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant in Israel.
    • Chen Franco-Yehuda
    • Chief Financial Officer
    • Chen Franco-Yehuda is the Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Secretary of Pluristem Therapeutics where she is responsible for managing the financial & corporate strategy, and lead the IT, investor relations, PR and legal departments. Prior to her appointment as CFO, Mrs. Franco-Yehuda served as the Company’s Head of Accounting and Financial Reporting and, prior to that, the Company’s Controller. Prior to joining Pluristem she held the position of a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCooper (PWC) Israel and a lecturer for accounting and economics classes at the Open University of Israel. Mrs. Franco-Yehuda holds a bachelor's degree in economics and accounting from Haifa University and is a certified public accountant in Israel.
    • Nitsan Halevy, MD
    • Chief Medical Officer
    • Dr. Halevy joined Pluristem in 2021 and serves as Chief Medical Officer. She is responsible for clinical development, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance and regulatory affairs. Dr. Halevy has 15 years of experience leading all aspects of clinical development in industry and academic settings. Prior to joining Pluristem, Dr. Halevy held the position of Chief Development Officer in Quark Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in her career, Dr. Halevy held roles of increasing responsibility and scope in clinical research, drug development and medical affairs at Teva, Novartis, and also at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.  Dr. Halevy holds an MD from the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School at Ben-Gurion University in Be’er Sheva and completed her internship at Sapir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.
    • Lior Raviv
    • Chief Technology Officer
    • Lior Raviv joined Pluristem in 2011 and currently serves as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to that Mr. Raviv served as VP Operations & Development, Process Development Engineer, Projects Manager and Product development Team leader at Pluristem. Prior to joining Pluristem and during the years 2010-2011, Mr. Raviv held the position of R&D Analytical Researcher at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Mr. Raviv holds a M.Med.Sec in pharmacology from the Ben Gurion University and a B.S.c, in Biotechnology engineering from the Ben Gurion University.
    • Nimrod Bar Zvi
    • Chief Commercial Officer
    • Nimrod Bar Zvi joined Pluristem as chief commercial officer in 2022 to lead global commercialization of the company’s cell-based technology Platform. Mr. Bar Zvi brings extensive senior leadership experience in the global pharmaceutical markets and active ingredients, with over 15 years in executives roles building B2B strategies, CDMO, API & Pharma sales. Prior to joining Pluristem, Nimrod was the CEO of a UK CDMO inhalation company, Pharmaserve NW and led the transformation to new green propellants in devices used to deliver respiratory drugs. Previously, Mr. Bar Zvi held various supply chain and commercial executive roles for Teva Pharmaceuticals and was responsible for developing Teva API growth strategy and entering new markets and businesses worldwide. Prior to that he served as Head of their North America, LATAM and China API commercial offices responsible for over 300m$ annual sales operations globally. Previously, he led Teva API Commercial operations in Europe and execution of strategic acquisitions for the region including establishment of new offices in Russia and prior to that he managed new established sales forces for Teva International Group in the Far-East markets with representation in over 15 Countries including first offices in China Mainland.
    • Efrat Livne-Hadass
    • VP Human Resources
    • Efrat Livne-Hadass joined Pluristem in 2007 and is responsible for all aspects of Human Resources management, including recruitment, professional training, and well-being. Prior to joining Pluristem and during the years 2001-2005, Ms. Livne-Hadass held the position of Human Resources Manager at Elbit Vision Systems, a company engaged in automatic optical inspection, located in Yokneam, Israel. While holding that position, she was involved in some major challenges and change processes which the company was going through, including managing HR in a small yet global public company. Ms. Livne-Hadass holds an Executive M.A. for Human Resources manager from the department of Labor Studies, Tel-Aviv University and a B.Sw. degree from the Haifa University, majoring in public healthcare services.
    • Racheli Ofir, PhD, MA Law
    • VP Data & Intellectual Property
    • Dr. Racheli Ofir Joined Pluristem in 2007, serves as Vice President of data and intellectual property. The IP department is responsible for intellectual property strategy development as well as the research that supports the IP. Dr. Ofir is responsible for leading projects involving the characterization of PLX cells, Pluristem's leading placenta derived cell product candidate, including evaluating the biological activity of the cells in in-vitro and animal studies. She is responsible for the studies which determines the safety profile and pharmacokinetics of PLX cells. In addition, she is in charge of all pre-clinical aspects of the PLX regulatory process and for the communications with the relevant regulatory authorities (FDA, EMA and PEI). Dr. Ofir is also responsible for applying and prosecuting over ten patent families filed worldwide, a co-inventor on five patent applications and the co-author of numerous peer reviewed articles. Dr. Ofir earned her PhD from the Technion, Israel institute of technology, where she investigated Telomeric position effects on gene expression and DNA replication in Human cells. She did her postdoctoral fellowship at the Technion in molecular embryology investigating genes involved in early development of vertebrates' nervous system. Dr. Ofir has extensive research experience in molecular cell biology, embryology and cytogenetics as well as broad professional experience in the field of human cell therapy.
    • Arthur Machlenkin, PhD
    • VP Research
    • Dr. Arthur Machlenkin joined Pluristem in May 2022 and serves as Vice president of Research. He is a biotech industry professional with nearly 20 years of academic and industrial experience at the intersection of drug discovery and development. He was most recently CEO at Pantheon Biosciences, an Israeli early-stage biotechnology company translating the bacterial immunity into antiviral platforms and therapeutics. As CEO, he led Pantheon’s vision and strategy, built an international team of top-notch researchers and academic collaborators. Prior to Pantheon, Arthur spent four years at Compugen where he was a Head of Immuno-Oncology (I-O) Research with responsibility for building the I-O infrastructure of the company and for target validation process. Before Compugen, Arthur spent 10 years in Hadassah Medical Center as Principal Investigator. He co-led (with Prof. Lotem) basic and translational research, discovery and development of innovative anticancer cell therapies including adoptive cell transfer and genetically modified tumor vaccines. Arthur has a PhD from Weizmann Institute of Science.
    • Orly Amiran
    • VP Quality Assurance
    • Orly Amiran holds a master degree in Quality Assurance from the Technion and a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from the Hebrew University. She has worked in the pharmaceutical industry since 2001 and has extensive experience in Quality Assurance management in global companies which market drugs to the European market and to North America. Prior to joining Pluristem Orly held the positions of Quality Assurance Manager at TEVA and Compliance Manager at Taro. She played a central role in successful regulatory agencies inspections in both positions. Ms. Orly Amiran brings with her to Pluristem a vast experience and knowledge on GMP, quality regulations and the corresponding industry best practices.
    • Efrat Kaduri
    • VP Business Development
    • Efrat Kaduri was appointed Vice President Business Development in February 2022, after serving as Director of Business Development and Marketing since October 2019 and, prior to that, as Director of Business, Investor and Public Relations since 2014. Before Joining Pluristem, Mrs. Kaduri worked as a strategic advisor and spokesperson for several business entities including technological incubators, medical and aggrotech startups. Previous positions also included Elron Electronic Industries (TASE: ELRN), the technology investment arm of IDB group. Mrs. Kaduri holds a master of business administration (MBA) from the Haifa University and a BA in Psychology and Communications from the City University of New York.

Board

  • Zami Aberman
    • Mr. Zami Aberman is Chairman of the Board. He joined Pluristem in September 2005, and redirected the Company's strategy towards cellular therapeutics to become one of the global leaders in the industry. Mr. Aberman's vision to use the maternal portion of the placenta as a cell source for Pluristem’s products, combined with Pluristem's 3D culturing technology, led to the development of the Company's unique therapies. In 2013 the World Stem Cells Regenerative Medicine Congress ranked Mr. Aberman as one of the 50 most influential people in the stem cells space. Prior to Pluristem, Mr. Aberman had a 30-year career as a senior executive in the high-tech industry with multiple companies in Israel, the U.S., Europe, Japan and Korea. Previous roles include Chairman of VLScom Ltd., a private company specializing in video compression for HDTV and video over IP; Director of Ori Software Ltd., a company involved in data management; President and CEO of Elbit Vision Systems (EVSNF.OB), which supplies inspection systems for the microelectronics industry; President and CEO of Netect Ltd., a company specializing in the field of internet security software; Co-Founder, President and CEO of Associative Computing Ltd., which developed an associative parallel processor for real-time video processing; Chairman of Display Inspection Systems Inc., a company specializing in laser based inspection machines; and President and CEO of Robomatix Technologies Ltd. (RBMXF.OB). In addition to his current role at Pluristem, Mr. Aberman serves as the Chairman of Rose Hitech Ltd., a private investment company in 1992, Mr. Aberman was awarded the Rothschild Prize for excellence in his field from the President of the State of Israel. Mr. Aberman holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Ben Gurion University in Israel.
  • Yaky Yanay
    • Mr. Yaky Yanay was appointed as President from February 2014 and as CEO from June 2019, after a period of being Co-CEO since March 2017. Mr. Yanay served in variety of executive positions in Pluristem since 2006 including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President. Mr. Yanay is the former Co-Chairman and current board member of Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI), the largest umbrella organization representing Israel’s life science and high-tech industries. Mr. Yanay founded over the years several activities and organizations to promote and support the Israeli life science industry. Before joining Pluristem, Mr. Yanay was the Chief Financial Officer of Elbit Vision Systems Ltd. a public, machine vision, high-tech company. Prior to that Mr. Yanay served as manager at Ernst & Young Israel. Mr. Yanay holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in business administration and accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant in Israel.
  • Doron Birger
    • Mr. Doron Birger is a high-tech industry executive with a background in bringing groundbreaking products to market.  He has more than 30 years of experience in the Israeli high-tech sector as a chief executive officer, board chairman, director, and advisor to several private and publicly traded firms, with an emphasis in the life science industry.  Key positions previously held by Mr. Birger include: president and Chief Executive Officer of Elron (Nasdaq, TASE: ELRNF) (2002-2009), Chairman of the Board at Given Imaging (2002-2007), and a director until it was sold to Covidien in 2014. Mr. Birger was also the Chief Financial Officer at several companies from various sectors (1978-2001), including the CFO of Elron (1994-2001). Mr Birger currently chairs several technology companies, including Sight Diagnostic, Ultrasight, Nurami, Matricelf (TASE: MTLF), and Intelicanna (TASE: INTL). He is also a director in a variety of medical device and advanced technology companies, including IceCure (TASE: ICCM), Citrine Global (OTCQB: CTGL), Kadimastem (TASE: KDST), HeraMED (ASX: HMD) Vibrant, and Netive Haor. Mr. Birger earned his bachelor’s degree and Master of Economics from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
  • Maital Shemesh-Rasmussen
    • Ms. Maital Shemesh-Rasmussen brings over 20 years of diverse commercialization experience across various industries. Driving growth in the health-tech sector, she has specifically focused on personalized care and patient-centric, data-driven products and value-based approaches. From 2018 to 2020, she served as Global Head of Solution Marketing at Roche Diagnostics Information Solutions, where she defined Roche's new health-tech strategy, bringing to market advanced digital solutions and commercial models that positioned Roche as a world leader in health technology. Key positions previously held by Ms. Shemesh-Rasmussen include: Director of Strategic and Product Marketing at Oracle Healthcare and Precision Medicine (2013-2016), where she drove penetration of the informatics, analytics and precision medicine market; Vice President of Global Marketing at JPMorgan Chase Bank (2002-2007), where she led global marketing and technology innovation to generate multimillion-dollar growth; Founder & CEO of Rasmussen Communications marketing agency, where she shaped marketing strategies and messaging for financial, health and technology firms; a consultant for startups; and a Board Member/Marketing Chair of Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Northern California. Her education includes a BA in Behavioral Sciences, Magna Cum Laude, from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, studies for an MA in Political Science and Communication at Bar-Ilan University, and the Executive Education Program in Strategy, Finance and Computer Science at Columbia University, New York.  
  • Rami Levi
    • Mr. Rami Levi, Founder and President of Catalyst Group International, brings over 30 years of experience in managing successful international projects on five continents, partnering with world leaders, and connecting nations and industry on a global scale. His career, spanning both the public and private sectors, has included five diplomatic missions on behalf of the State of Israel, as well as the founding of several successful companies. A leading expert in international affairs, global market development, crisis management, strategic planning and government regulatory management, Mr. Levi has generated and managed major cross countries agreements over the years.   As Senior Deputy General & Head of Marketing Administration at Israel's Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Levi led numerous international initiatives and global partnerships involving 42 governments and world-leading conglomerates. In the private sector, he founded Catalyst Group, working as a consultant for governments, global law firms, banks, television networks and multinational NGOs. Mr. Levi's holds an MA with Honors in Political Science from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.    
  • Varda Shalev
    • Prof. Varda Shalev is a physician, medical researcher, and Professor of Medicine at the Tel Aviv University’s School of Public Health, bringing more than 30 years’ experience working in the intersection of health and technology. Prof. Shalev founded and was the Chief Executive Officer of the KSM Institute of Research and Innovation and Maccabitech, part of Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare Services. During her tenure, she established the largest biobank in Israel and developed a computerized system to predict the risk of colon cancer for which Maccabi won the Director General of the Ministry of Health's Excellence in Logistics in Health Systems award. She previously founded the Department of Medical Informatics at Maccabi Healthcare Services and was also their head of the Primary Care division. Prof. Shalev is also the Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of the digital health startup, Alike. She has authored more than 250 publications in peer-reviewed journals and was included in the Marker newspaper’s list of “100 Most Influential People.” Prof. Shalev earned her medical degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, School of Medicine, her Master of Public Health Administration from Clark University in the United States and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in Medical Informatics at Johns Hopkins.
  • ________________________________________

    • ADVISORY BOARD

  • ADVISORY BOARD:

    • Pluristem's strategic advisory board:

  • Eilon Tirosh
    • Mr. Eilon Tirosh is a member of Pluristem’s advisory board. He is a well known healthcare innovation supporter in Israel and in the US, as well as a serial entrepreneur. Earlier in his career, Mr. Tirosh co-founded and served as EVP sales and marketing at Exalink. He is also known for serving as VP mobile Internet at Comverse and as co-founder and chairman of Olista.
  • Yoram Palti
    • Prof. Yoram Palti, MD  is a member of Pluristem’s advisory board. He is a professor emeritus of physiology and biophysics at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, the inventor of Tumor Treating Fields as well as the founder of Novocure. Prof. Palti received his MSc, PhD and MD from The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School and served his residency at The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School.