People

Prof. Meir Plotnik

I am a neurophysiologist, and my studies and subsequent research focused on motor control and vestibular function. I have about 30 years of experience conducting both animal and human research, on motor control and vestibular function (balance control). I am always open to new ideas and collaborations engaged with the combination of physiology and technology in basic science, clinical applications or device development.

Scientific director of CATR since 2012 and a faculty member of Sackler medicine department in Tel Aviv University.

Scientific Director

Meir.Plotnik@sheba.health.gov.il

Dr. Benedetta Heimler

Senior Researcher

I am a cognitive neuroscientist with extensive experience in sensory-motor plasticity and rehabilitation.

I direct and manage CATR research on Parkinson’s disease (PD), with a focus on gait and balance motor disorders and freezing of gait. My research spans from basic science questions aiming at uncovering neural/physiological signatures of PD motor symptoms, to the development and implementation of cutting-edge rehabilitation programs aiming at reducing these symptoms, and thus improving the quality of life of PD patients.

benedettaheimler@gmail.com

Dr. Meytal Wilf

Senior Researcher

I am a neuroscientist with a wide background in neuroimaging of sensory cortices and in VR training.

I joined CATR as a senior researcher, managing studies related to cognitive-motor interactions in healthy participants and in patients populations. In my research, I use VR combined with physiological and kinematic recordings, to unravel the complex cognitive-motor interactions giving rise to human behaviour, as well as to identify pathological interactions that might cause deficits in daily-life function.

meytalwilf@gmail.com

Yotam Bahat

VR expert

I am responsible for creation of VR environments, both for clinical and research use, and for the implementations of the scenes in the CAREN Labs.
This includes:

3D modeling and texturing
3D animations
Programming all functionalities to suite the CAREN labs (proper projection, moving platform, treadmill, other inputs/outputs)
Relevant MoCap settings.

In addition, my responsibilities are technical maintenance and troubleshooting, operating in selected researches and staff training.

yotam.bahat@gmail.com

Shani Kimel-Naor

R&D engineer and activity coordinator

R&D engineer specializing in biomechanics, alumnus of bachelor and master degree from the Biomedical Engineering department in Tel Aviv University. In addition, I am also CATR activity management coordinator.

Shani.KimelNaor@sheba.health.gov.il

Or Koren

R&D Engineer

R&D engineer specializing in physiological signal processing, alumnus of the Bio-Medical Engineering department at Afeka College of engineering.

Or.Koren@sheba.health.gov.il

Noam Galor

R&D Engineer

R&D engineer specializing in Parkinson's disease research and VR development.

An alumnus of the Bio-Medical Engineering Department at Ben Gurion University.

noam.g79@gmail.com

Dr. Uri Rosenblum Belzer

Researcher

I am a physiotherapist, an alumnus of the Physical Therapy department at Ben-Gurion University and holds a PhD in Health Science from the Physical Therapy department at Ben-Gurion University.

I study balance recovery processes while walking using kinematic (e.g., gait parameters) and physiological signals (e.g., EMG, EEG).

Uri.RosenblumBlzer@sheba.health.gov.il

Amit Benady

MD-PhD student

I am currently completing a medical degree at St. George’s University of London in conjunction with Sheba Medical Center. In addition, I am conducting my PhD research at the Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation (CATR) at Sheba Medical Center together with Bar Ilan University.
I hold BSc and MSc degrees in neuroscience, both from Tel Aviv University. My master’s thesis focused on biochemical mechanisms of traumatic brain injury.

amit.benady@gmail.com

Adi Lustig

PhD student

I am a biomedical engineer with a BSc degree from Technion institute of technology and a MSc degree from Tel-Aviv University.

I am currently doing my PhD studying integrative neurophysiological processes in health and disease using virtual reality at the Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation (CATR) together with the Sackler faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.

adi.lustig66@gmail.com

Dr. Amihai Gottlieb

Research Coordinator

I am a cognitive scientist, working as a research coordinator in CATR for the past 7 years. During my work in CATR, I was involved in coordinating a major EU funded project for 3 years. Currently, I am assisting in publishing journal and conference papers and submitting grant applications.

amihai.gottlieb@gmail.com

Noa Ben Yair

BSc. student In collaboration with BGU

Project Title: 'Studying Cognitive-Motor Interactions Using a Novel Application of the Color Trails Test'

Mishel Kasperuk

MSc student at TAU Sagol clinical programme

Project Title: 'Eye tracking in Parkinson's patients with stagnant walking - FOG'

Anais di Via Ioschpe

Arrow Project for outstanding medical students

Project Title: 'The role of eye tracking in distinguishing apathy from depression in the context of dementia, using VR'

Alona Korakin

MSc in collaboration with Jason Friedman TAU

Project Title: 'Relation between fall-risk and Eye-Hand coordination during cognitive task in the elderly'

Israel Finkelstein

Arrow Project for outstanding medical students

Project Title: 'Self-paced treadmill walking in VR ecological conditions - does virtuality follow reality?'

Shaked Lev

I am a Physical Therapist specializing in neurological rehabilitation. My experience spans multiple institutes including the Multiple Sclerosis Center, the Virtual Reality Training Facility (using the CAREN labs and different VR environments) and the Gait Laboratory.

Alongside this, I am a Master’s student for Physical Therapy at Tel Aviv University under the instruction of Dr. Meir Plotnik and in collaboration with Dr. Jason Friedman.

Past Team Members

Lotem Kribus-Shmiel

Biomedial R&D engineer. alumnus of the Biomedical Engineering department at the Technion, Israel (IIT).

Dr. Desiderio Cano Porras

PhD in collaboration with Tel-Aviv University, Investigating how VR can influence motor learning and sensorimotor integration in neurological patients.