David Cohen
Founder and Director of IsrA.L.S .
David Cohen is the founder and director of IsrA.L.S. as well as the owner of Shatit Company. He lives in Haifa with his wife Mali and their three children: Omer 21, Noa 17, and Daniel 11, who David calls “my angels”. He is 53 years old and was diagnosed with A.L.S. in May 2003.
Today David has almost completely lost the use of his hands and legs, his speech has been affected, and he is fed through a PEG.. He reads and writes with the aid of a computer, a virtual keyboard and mouse that he operates by moving his head. David’s spirit is nevertheless strong and his mood is good. Until falling ill, he ran a successful company, which he founded 20 years ago. It is a family business that is now run by his brother, wife and eldest son Omer. David sees the founding of the IsrA.L.S. Society, as an opportunity and privilege to contribute to the community, which has made this one of the best periods of his life. After being diagnosed, David had the honor of meeting many other A.L.S. patients who, despite the grave physical difficulties they face and their rapid deterioration as a result of this illness, haven’t lost their desire to live and help other A.L.S. sufferers. He is glad to see the good side of Israel that has an endless desire and will to help and contribute in every way it can. For this he is grateful to all.
Prof. Peretz Lavie
Co-Founder
Vice President for Resource Development - The Technion
As the Vice President for Resource Development and External Relations, Professor Peretz Lavie's assists the President to strengthen relations with Technion donors, friends and societies in Israel and abroad. He also oversees The Technion’s fundraising activities.
Professor Lavie is a world-renowned authority on the psychophysiology of sleep and sleep disorders. He is Head of the Technion Sleep Laboratory, Chairperson of the Behavioral Biology Department in the Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, and is the incumbent of the Andre Ballard Chair in Biological Psychiatry. From 1993-1999, Professor Lavie served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He is the author of the acclaimed book, The Enchanted World of Sleep, which has been translated from Hebrew into 14 languages. His latest book, Restless Nights: Understanding Sleep Apnea and Snoring, published in 2002 in Hebrew, is now available in English. Professor Lavie is one of the founders and directors of Itamar Medical Ltd., SLP Ltd., and Sleep Health Centers Ltd.
Tal Leder
Manager of IsrA.L.S.
Tal Leder was born in 1952 in Tel Aviv where she grew up and completed her studies. She currently resides in Haifa and is the mother of Aviv, 28, and Alon, 25. She served in the operations unit of the Israeli Air Force in Sharem-el-Sheikh, studied architecture in New York and worked for Prof. Al Mensfield`s architecture firm in Haifa. She served as Vice-CEO of a number of large construction companies for 20 years and in her last position managed a project of 1,700 apartments. She was one of the founders of Shema, a non-profit organization for school aged deaf children, and took part in education within the framework of her position as deputy chairman of the central parents` committee of all of Haifa`s schools.
As she wished to help the community, Leder was recruited for research into the A.L.S. disease and has been serving as the organization`s manager as of mid 2004.
Ruth Keidar
Accountant
Ruth Keidar, a CPA since 1986, runs her own accounting firm. She has a BA in Economics and Accounting from the University of Haifa. In 1983 Ruthi trained in an accounting firm and eventually joined senior management, becoming a partner. From 1996 to 1999 Ruthi was the comptroller for a start up company. In 1999 she started her own firm.
A year ago, Ruthi’s brother David Cohen, was diagnosed with A.L.S.. Faced with the desperate situation of no known cure or medication for this illness, Ruthi joined in the founding of IsrA.L.S. to advance research into the disease.
Ruthi lives in Haifa. She is married and the mother of three children.
Roni Ben-Haim
Active Member
Roni Ben Haim is the Director of Accounting of the Municipality of Haifa. Born in 1952, Roni has a BA in economics and statistics and an MBA. Roni served in the tank corps in the IDF and he currently works as the Budget Officer for the Haifa region on reserve duty. He is married to Anne and a father of two children.
Mosh Golan
Active Member
Moshe Golan, David Cohen's nephew, joined IsrA.L.S. in its establishment
while completing his M.S in Computer Science at UCLA in the USA.
Moshe was the manager of the Los Angeles IsrA.L.S. Chapter.
He returned to Israel in January 2005.
He is a Computer Engineer in the R&D department; of Bitband LTD.
Shmulik (Sam) Levi
Active Member
Shmulik (Sam) Levi, is married to Merav,father of two sons Noam & Ohed , and he lives in Beer Sheva . Shmuel holds a Degree in Biotechnology and a Masters degree in environmental ecology engineering .
Until 6 years ago Shmulik worked as an Engineer at the Ministry of the Environment & Ecology . He was diagnosed with A.L.S. four years ago and today he works from home for a High-Tech Company in Beer Sheva called DBMOTION, and he manages the web site of the IsrA.L.S. organization.
Nir Tsoran
CEO - Active Member
Nir Tsoran was born in 1963, he lives on Moshav Avigdor, and is married to Yael, with whom he has three children. Nir was involved in agriculture and education. Until 2003, he operated a large farming operation. At the same time, he held various positions in teaching and education administration at the Be’er-Tuvya High School, including: teaching classes in History and Citizenship, Section Head, and Vice Principal.
Nir holds a first degree in History and Middle East Studies, and a second degree in Management of Education Systems. He frequently hiked in Israel and elsewhere in the world, and engaged in flying as a hobby (he has a civilian flying licence.) Nir was diagnosed with ALS in March 2003. At the end of 2004, Nir retired from teaching because of the illness, and since then he has been active in the Association, most recently as CEO.
Felix Slamovics
Active Member
Felix Slamovics was born in Transylvania(the Hungarian part of Romania )in 21/03/1963.
In 1982 he immigrated to Israel with his parents.
After graduating from Leo Baeck High School in Haifa Felix studied medical massage as well as photography. He also worked in electronics (SMT) for many years. Felix
dedicated a lot of his life to sports, martial arts and rock climbing.
Prior to contracting ALS (in 2002) he successfully turned his rockclimbing hobby into his profession. Felix is divorced and living in Tel-Aviv.
Iris Mazal
Active Member
Iris Mazal was born in 1965 in Paris and today she lives in Tel-Aviv. Encouraged by her friend and IsrA.L.S. CEO Nir Tsoran, Iris became active in the association She earned her BA in Middle East History and French Literature, and her MBA in Business.
Today Iris heads the business department of a financial company.
Avichai Kremer
Active Member
Avichai Kremer is Founder and Chairman of the Board of Prize4Life, Inc. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2004 and worked as the CEO of IsrA.L.S.. He has also helped to promote ALS research at the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair and the Massachusetts General Hospital. Avichai was a project manager for Elbit Systems, Ltd. and a Captain in the Israeli Defense Forces. He earned his B.S. in Computer Science from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Avichai was recognized in 2006 by Harvard Business School’s prestigious Dean’s Award for making an outstanding contribution to Harvard and society.
Mali Cohen
Active Member
Mali Cohen was born in 1955, married to David for 25 years, and is a mother of three. she has her BA in agriculture science.
For 20 years David and Iris together head a successful family run building and development company.In May 2003 David was diagnosed with A.L.S. Since then, their lives are surrounded by the disease.
In March 2004, when the association was established Iris joined, trying to contribute as much as she could, believing that together, it will be overcome it.
Orit Golan-Shani
Active Member
Orit Golan-Shani, David Cohen's niece, was born in 1975 in Haifa. She is currently studying for her doctorate in the department of Anatomy and Biology of the Cell in the Medical School of the Technion. Orit has her BA in Biotechnology Engineering and her MBA in Biochemistry. She served as a nurse in the armyand worked for the Israel Red Cross Society as well as the medical company, Taro.
