Our Team

Dr. Itzik Goldwaser is the CEO of Yissum after formerly serving as Yissum's SVP of Business Development & Alliance Management. Itzik has over 20 years of experience in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, spanning executive and R&D management roles in the biotechnology, chemical, and biological drug development markets.

Itzik has held a number of leadership positions, including Co-Founder, CEO, and President of NasVax from its founding in 2004 until 2010. Itzik joined NasVax from Sol-Gel Technologies, where he served as CTO and Chief Biologist.

Itzik earned his PhD in Biological Chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science, his M.Sc. in Medical Science from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Itzik is the co-owner of several registered patents in pharmacology and has authored numerous publications in this field.

Sharon Cohen has served as Yissum’s CFO since 2010, after first serving as Yissum’s Controller for four years. Sharon’s previous experience includes positions in the Finance department of the Jewish Agency and at KPMG Somekh Chaikin, a member firm of KPMG International.

Sharon is a certified public accountant (Israel) and holds a BA in Business Management and Accounting and an MBA (Cum Laude) from the Israel College of Management Academic Studies.

Bob Trachtenberg joined Yissum in 2006 as its first General Counsel. In this role he manages all aspects of Yissum’s legal work, including technology licensing and intellectual property protection. An attorney with over 35 years of experience in the US and Israel, Bob previously served as General Counsel of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: KERX) and of Accent Software International.

He earned his JD from New York University and his BA from Binghamton University.

Mel Larrosa is Vice President of Business Development at Yissum where she specializes in developing industry partnerships in the Life Sciences, Biotech and Pharma sectors. Originally from Brazil, Mel brings over 15 years of experience in market analysis, business modeling, contract negotiation and regulatory issues.

Prior to joining Yissum, Mel directed business development at the SK Pharma Group and Aquamaof Aquaculture Technologies. She currently sits on the board of two Yissum portfolio companies, Future Meat and Tissue Dynamics.

Mel holds an MBA from Open University and an MSc from the University of Brasilia. She earned her BSc in Biology from the University of São Paulo and is currently working towards her PhD at the Hebrew University.

Dr. Keren-Or Amar is Vice President of Business Development at Yissum where she specializes in pursuing commercial partnerships for researchers from Hebrew University’s Medical and Life Sciences faculties. Keren-Or brings to Yissum over 10 years of experience in business development, medical marketing, strategic planning, and market research.

Prior to joining Yissum, Keren-Or served as Global Medical Marketing Manager at Panaxia Pharmaceutical, General Manager at ShizimXL, a Medical Devices Accelerator, and the Business Development Manager at Cann10 Accelerator for Medical Cannabis. Keren-Or also established and managed the Research and Development Authority at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and was responsible for the commercialization activities of projects that came from its medical staff.

Keren-Or completed her post-doctoral research at Hebrew University’s Faculty of Medicine. She holds a Ph.D in Life Sciences as well as a Master of Law from Bar-Ilan University. She completed her M.Sc and B.Sc in Biology at the Technion.

Anna Pellivert is Vice President of Business Development at Yissum where she is responsible for developing commercial opportunities for early-stage academic technologies from the Hebrew University in the areas of Computer Science (AI, Cyber, Data Science, Computer Vision), Cognition and EdTech. Anna brings her seasoned experience in the convergence of business and science to the role.

Prior to joining Yissum, Anna worked as the Head of the Governmental Incentives’ Department at Grant Thornton, a global audit and business consulting network. In addition, she served in the Israeli diplomatic service for over three years as the Director of the Israeli Cultural Center at the Embassy of Israel in Moscow.

Born and raised in Russia, Anna completed her BA in Marketing from Saint-Petersburg State University. She also holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Amit Hayuth is Vice President of Business Development at Yissum and is tasked with identifying and engaging with corporate partners to commercialize Intellectual Property from the Physical Sciences. Amit proactively drives industry-sponsored research programs to develop new technologies and partners with other ecosystem members to generate value from Hebrew University's assets. Amit brings more than 20 years of experience in Corporate Strategy, Business Development, strategic partnerships and new products/solutions introduction. Prior joining Yissum, Amit worked as Business Development Manager at ICL-IP.

Dr. Ilya Pittel is Vice President of Business Development at Yissum specializing in facilitating partnerships between researchers from the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture and industry in the fields of Agtech, Foodtech, and veterinary and environmental sciences. He currently sits on the boards of three Yissum spinout companies: Aquinovo, ChickP and Sufresca.

Previously, Ilya served as R&D Partnership and Business Analyst at FuturaGene, the leader in biotech plantation forestry. Ilya holds a Ph.D (2014), MS.c (2008) and BA (2006) from Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

Faigy Snow supports the Business Development Team at Yissum. She holds a BA from Touro College. Previously she worked in legal transcription and as an Executive Assistant.