About the conference
We wish to welcome you to the 72nd Annual Conference of the Israel Heart Society, in collaboration with the Israel Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery, a gathering representing 72 years of activity. The conference will take place at the David InterContinental Tel Aviv hotel on May 26-27, 2025.
The 72nd conference will consist of a vibrant program including new medical innovations and technology updates, leading international keynote speakers, parallel and satellite sessions on the latest research in our field. This conference is a real opportunity for meaningful collaboration with colleagues from Israel and across the globe and a chance to make an impact.
We look forward to seeing you in Tel Aviv.
2025 Faculty

Miry Blich, MD
Attending Cardiologist, and heads both the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic and the Women’s Heart Clinic
Rambam Healthcare Campus
Miry Blich, MD
Miry Blich received her MD (1999) from the Ruth & Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. She completed three residencies at Rambam Health Care campus: internal medicine (2000–2004), cardiology (2004–2007), and electrophysiology (2007–2010). Dr Blich also completed a fellowship in inherited arrhythmia syndromes from Molecular Cardiology, IRCCS Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri, Pavia, Italy (2010-2011) and a fellowship in inherited cardiomyopathies in inherited cardiovascular disease unit, the heart hospital UCL, London, UK (2014). In 2011, Dr. Blich founded the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic at Rambam— The clinic specialized in the diagnosis, treatment and long term follow up of patients with inherited cardiomyopathies and inherited channelopathies- two leading causes of heart failure and sudden cardiac arrest in the young. The clinic was the first in Israel to perform routine genetic testing for every patient who was suspected to have inherited heart disease and to use the genetic testing as a clinical routine tool for diagnosis, risk assessment and treatment selection in these challenging patients. The uniqueness of the clinic is this pioneering approach that combines comprehensive cardiac evaluation and the genetic diagnosis. Today the clinic serves over 1800 patients from across Israel and is a national leader in its field. Since 2011 Miry Blich is a Senior Cardiologist in the Department of Cardiology and in the Electrophysiology Unit at Rambam, and is Head of the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic and Women’s Heart Clinic. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Blich is involved in clinical and basis research. She has received several prizes, including the Neufeld Award for original research work from the Israel Heart Society in 2012, and has authored several scientific publications.

Rodney H. Falk, MD
Founder and Emeritus Director
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Rodney H. Falk, MD
Rodney Falk is the Founder and Emeritus Director of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Amyloidosis Program, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Boston MA USA. He has been involved with treating patients with amyloidosis for over 40 years and was previously at Boston University where he was a Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of The Boston University Amyloidosis Program. Dr Falk is a senior author or co-author on over 250 peer publications and has lectured nationally and internationally on cardiac topics in general and amyloid heart disease in particular.

Peter Fitzgerald, MD, PhD
Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Technology and Director of the Cardiovascular Core Analysis Laboratory (CCAL)
Stanford University Medical School
Peter Fitzgerald, MD, PhD

Michal Laufer-Perl, MD, MHA, FESC, FHFA
Director of the Cardiovascular Clinics and Head of the Heart Failure Service
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
Michal Laufer-Perl, MD, MHA, FESC, FHFA
Prof. Michal Laufer Perl is a senior cardiologist specializing in heart failure and cardio-oncology. She is the Director of the Cardiovascular Clinics and Heart Failure Service and serves as Secretary of the Cardiomyopathy Section for the Israel Cardiology Association.

Jonathon A. Leipsic, MD, F.R.C.P.C. M.S.C.C.T
Chair of Radiology and Professor of Cardiology
University of British Columbia
Jonathon A. Leipsic, MD, F.R.C.P.C. M.S.C.C.T
Jonathon A. Leipsic, M.D., F.R.C.P.C. M.S.C.C.T is Professor and Chair of Radiology and Professor of Cardiology with the University of British Columbia and previously held a Canada Research Chair of Cardiac Imaging. Dr. Leipsic has over 870 peer reviewed manuscripts in press or in print, over 300 scientific abstracts, and editor of 2 textbooks. He speaks internationally on a number of cardiopulmonary imaging topics with over 150 invited lectures in the last 4 years. He is also past President of the Society of Cardiovascular CT (2015-2016) and was awarded its Gold Medal in 2019 and was recently named to the prestigious Top 1% most impactful scientist designation by the Web of Science for 6 years in a row from 2019-2024.

Amir Lerman, MD, FACC
Associate Chair, Department of Cardiology, Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center
Mayo Clinic
Amir Lerman, MD, FACC
Amir Lerman, MD. Is an endowed named Barbara Lips professor of medicine and a consultant in the department of cardiovascular disease at the Mayo graduate school of medicine. Dr. Lerman serves as an associate chair of the department of Cardiology and the Director of the cardiovascular research center at Mayo Clinic and the medical director of the chest pain and coronary physiology clinic. Dr. Lerman serves as the Director Mayo-Israeli start-up companies initiative and on the faculty member of the Merage Institute for medical innovation. Dr. Lerman graduated from the Technion school of Medicine in Haifa Israel and completed his training in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases and invasive cardiology at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Leman interest is coronary physiology and imaging, regenerative medicine, innovative technologies and digital health. Dr. Lerman published more than 650 manuscripts, book chapters and reviews; the NIH, AHA, and several foundations support his research.

Shlomi Matetzky, MD
Director of the Intensive Cardiac Care Department
Sheba Medical Center
Shlomi Matetzky, MD
Dr Matetzky graduated cum laude from the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. He continued his studies specializing in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Sheba Medical Center.
From 1998 to 2001 Dr Matetzky specialized in Intensive Care Cardiology at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles USA. During his fellowship Prof Matetzky researched myocardial infarcts and atherosclerosis in the young and the correlation between coagulation disturbance and myocardial infarction. His fellowship included laboratory work as a research team member of one of the renowned laboratories in this field at UCLA – Atherosclerosis Research Center, especially in Atherosclerotic Plaque thrombogenecity.
Dr Matetzky has an academic track professorship in Cardiology and Internal Medicine from the Tel Aviv University.
Currently Dr Matetzky is the Director of Cardiovascular Hospitalization and the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, as well as in recent years being appointed Deputy Director of the Division of Cardiology in the Sheba Medical Center, Israel.
Dr Matetzky established a Clinic for premature infarcts/atherosclerosis in the Sheba Medical Center dealing with treatment for young cardiac patients with emphasize on diagnosis and treatment of hypercoagulable states.
In 2016 he set up a Chest Pain Center (CPC) in the Sheba Medical Center to identify and treat patients suffering from chest pain and suspected coronary disease. After evaluating over 15,000 patients with suspected coronary events the unit was enlarged to include a Fast Track Evaluation for patients with low risk pulmonary emboli and DVT as an innovative approach to providing a remarkable service to treat these patients at Sheba.
Dr Matetzky is a member of the Medical Board of Magen David Adom (Israeli national EMS) and is senior consulting cardiologist to the Israeli Airforce holding the position of Lieutenant Colonel.
Over the last decade Prof Matetzky has fulfilled number of positions in the Israel Heart Society. Among them he was head of the working group for intensive cardiac care (ACCA) and currently is head of the Working Group for Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy. Within the framework of his duties Prof Matetzky was responsible for the Acute Coronary Syndrome Israeli Survey (ACSIS).
Prof Matetzky was a co-author of the Guidelines for the Israel Heart Society.
Prof Matetzky is a member of many professional societies: IHS, ESC and ISTH as well as professional forums such as the Pulmonary Embolism Expert Forum (PEEF) and ICHOM (International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement). In this framework he initiated the PROM program for cardiology patients at Sheba.
Prof Matetzky is a member of the organizing committee of several local and internationl conferences including ICI and ACCA.
He was awarded the prestigious Mirowsky Prize for excellence in cardiology.
Prof Matetzky is an active lecturer and teacher in the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.
Prof Matetzky has published over 150 manuscripts in prestigious scientific journals, including many manuscripts in the field of platelet function in coronary patients and their response to anti-platelet agents as well as laboratory studies on basic science in the field of atherothrombosis.
Main topics of Prof Matetzky’s research include clinical studies in AMI patients, treatment of acute coronary episodes, and specifically platelet function in patients with ACS, platelet responsiveness to anti- platelet agents in ACS and post PCI as well as ex-vivo and laboratory studies platelets function. Further research topics include the pathogenesis of premature coronary events and coagulation disorders. Recently Prof Matetzky has been involved in research in the field of vascular medicine, especially regarding the significance of PAD in coronary patients and predictors and pathogenesis of pulmonary emboli. Most recently Prof Matetzky initiated and now heads a large prospective registry of hospitalized PE patients and is involved in a number of studies on the prognostication and treatment PE patients.

John D. Puskas, MD
Professor and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Emory University Hospital Midtown
John D. Puskas, MD

Philippe Gabriel Steg, MD, FESC
Chief, Department of Cardiology
Hôpital Bichat, Paris
Philippe Gabriel Steg, MD, FESC
- Chief, Department of Cardiology, Hôpital Bichat, Paris, France.
- Vice President (Research) of the board of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris network (38 hospitals).
- Professor of Cardiology at Université Paris-Cité, Paris, France
- Chair of the FACT (French Alliance for cardiovascular Clinical Trials) academic research network.
- Chair of the French National University Council for Cardiology (Conseil National des Universités)
- Senior Professor (innovation chair) at Institut Universitaire de France, since 2022
Dr Steg has extensive experience as a clinical trialist in coronary artery disease and has authored more than 1 700 peer-reviewed articles. His H-Index is 149 and he has > 130 000 citations. He has been ”highly cited researcher” every year since 2014. He is Senior Associate Editor for Circulation.
ISRAEL


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