People
Fellows
Dr. Jakub Sroubek received his MD/PhD degrees from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, NY, where he studied the molecular biology of cardiac ion channels responsible for congenital Long QT Syndrome. During his subsequent internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, he spent time studying another cardiac rhythm abnormality — the Brugada syndrome. He completed his general cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology fellowships at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. During his fellowship in electrophysiology, Jakub spent one year working in our laboratory. The focus of his research is the contribution of heterogenicity in repolarization to development of reentry, and whether repolarization maps can increase the specificity of substrate mapping of VT. Jakub has already presented his work in national and international meetings. Jakub will be assuming a staff electrophysiologist position at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH, in July 2020 and his interests are centered around the pathophysiology of ventricular tachycardias and the role of cardiac repolarization, in particular. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, long-distance running, and playing the cello.
Dr. Hagai Yavin graduated Medical School from Ben-Gurion University in 2009. He then completed a residency in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Rabin Medical Center in Israel. Hagai then joined our research lab as a Post-Doctorate Research Fellow funded by the Mark E. Josephson Scholarship for Physician Scientists granted to our laboratory by Biosense Webster, Johnson & Johnson. Hagai’s research focus is mechanisms of ablation with electroporation and mechanisms of ventricular arrhythmias. Hagai is married to Sharon and he has three children. He enjoys skiing, hiking, and cooking.
Alumni
Dr. Michael Barkagan was born in Novosibirsk, Russia. At age 14, he repatriated with his family to Israel. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Debrecen Medical School in Hungary. Michael completed training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center, working closely with Dr. Bernard Belhassen. He then joined our laboratory in 2017 as a Post-Doctorate Research Fellow, funded by the Mark E. Josephson Scholarship for Physician Scientists granted by Biosense Webster, Johnson & Johnson. Michael’s research focus was on biophysics of radiofrequency ablation and mechanisms of scar-related ventricular tachycardia. During his fellowship, he published 12 peer-reviewed articles and presented his work at international scientific meetings. Michael's pivotal contributions were the effect of baseline impedance on RF ablation lesion dimensions and characterization of the effect of RF on scar tissue.
Dr. Eran Leshem was born in Boston, MA, and grew up in Israel. He graduated Medical School at the Ben-Gurion University in Israel and completed training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center, working closely with Dr. Bernard Belhassen. He then moved back to the United States in 2015 as the first Post-Doctorate Research Fellow funded by the Mark E. Josephson Scholarship for Physician Scientists granted to our laboratory by Biosense Webster, Johnson & Johnson. Eran’s research focus was biophysics of radiofrequency ablation. Eran was the first to investigate the biophysics of high-power short duration ablation, a paper that was published in JACC EP. Eran continued to study biophysics of ablation in a thigh muscle preparation, in vivo animal models and humans. During his fellowship, he published 17 peer-reviewed articles on these subjects. Eran then continued to a clinical fellowship in Electrophysiology, translating the knowledge he gained during this research fellowship. Following his graduation in 2019, Eran returned to Israel as an attending physician in cardiac electrophysiologist at the Sheba Medical Center affiliated with the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at the Tel Aviv University. Eran continues to do translational research in biophysics of ablation along with his growing clinical career and clinical research interests.
Dr. Ayelet Shapira-Daniels grew up in Brookline, MA, and moved to Israel to join the IDF. She then completed her medical studies at the Hebrew University-Hadassah. Ayelet joined the lab in 2018 under the NIH-T32 training grant. The focus of her research includes biophysics of radiofrequency and electroporation ablation, modulating energy sources to increase the effect of ablation, and translating this data into humans. Ayelet was awarded “Best Abstract for Women in Electrophysiology” in 2019 by the Heart Rhythm Society for her work on a novel lattice catheter for ventricular ablation. In less than two years in the lab, Ayelet has published 10 original manuscripts. In June 2020, she will continue her clinical career as a resident in the internal medicine residency program at the Boston University School of Medicine. She enjoys spending her free time with her husband and two young children.
Dr. David Shim received his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, MD/PhD at Baylor College of Medicine, and went on to NYP-Columbia for a residency in Internal Medicine. He is currently at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he completed a Cardiology fellowship and is now an advanced fellow in Cardiac Electrophysiology. In the research laboratory, David studies methods to estimate wall thickness during mapping and ablation procedures. He plans to continue an academic career in clinical and translational research. David was honored to meet Dr. Josephson as a first-year fellow, who promptly bestowed the nickname “Smiley.”
