Date and Location

February 13, 2025
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET
Allison Dining Room

Contact

617-495-4087

Join MEI Fellows Avner HalperinDr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, and Noam Alon for a discussion on their report, A Healthcare Bridge over Troubled Conflicts: A New Model for Building Trust Through Joint Healthcare Programs. Learn about how the authors developed the first systematic approach to building trust between conflict groups through healthcare and their findings on how numerous joint healthcare programs in the region brought together Palestinians and Jewish Israelis through different mediums and structures.


Avner Halperin is a fellow at the Middle East Initiative. He is an entrepreneur, executive and researcher in digital health, AI and technology policy. He serves as CEO of Sheba Impact – the commercialization and entrepreneurship arm of Sheba Medical Center. In this position, he leads the creation of dozens of breakthrough medical technology startups and the building of a vibrant startup ecosystem around Sheba valued at over $4.2 Billion. In addition, he is Chairman of the Board at EyeControl Ltd. - an AI based medical device company that won the Genesis Award for contribution to the battle again COVID-19. Previously, he was the founding CEO of EarlySense, a medical technology startup that developed a contactless sensor that became the standard of care in well over 1,000 US hospitals. This technology was acquired by Baxter International. Earlier, he was VP Marketing at Radcom (NASDAQ: RDCM) and R&D leader at Eldat (acquired by Pricer). Avner earned an M.Sc. in Applied Physics from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from MIT where he researched the operations of globally dispersed teams. He is a lecturer at Tel Aviv University where he teaches a course on Big Data and AI Economics. In 2019, he gave a TED talk on AI in Healthcare. He is also an inventor with 34 US Patents.  


Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha is a fellow with the Middle East Initiative and a medical doctor with a specialty in internal medicine, currently completing a clinical fellowship in critical care medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Her research focuses on healthcare policies and politics that create inequality in health services and outcomes for underserved communities. She formerly served as the Health Policy Director at the Task Force for Health Promotion and Equity in the Arab Society at the Israeli Ministry of Health, leading major efforts and interventions to deal with health disparities between Jews and Arabs in Israel. In 2016 she co-founded and managed Rodaina, an NGO that aims to prevent genetic diseases in the Middle East, especially in the Bedouin community, by spearheading premarital genetic testing and matching. In 2019 she co-founded Yanabia, an organization that promotes socio-economic development of the Bedouin community in Israel, while focusing on health, education, women's employment, housing and community empowerment. She also serves on multiple Board of Directors of NGOs aiming to improve Bedouin lives in Israel. She has won several awards, including the 2007 Ramon Award for quality, leadership, and excellence and was chosen to be part of Forbes' "30 Under 30" list. In 2023, she was named one of Israel's 50 most influential women by Globes Magazine. Yasmeen holds a BSc and MD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.


Noam Alon is a fellow at the Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She has experience in the global technology sector, where she has led initiatives in product development, business operations, risk management, and model generation for several international companies. Throughout her life, Noam has been involved with numerous NGOs focused on peacebuilding and dialogue in Israel and Palestine, particularly leveraging technological collaborations and entrepreneurship to foster understanding and cooperation. She serves on the executive boards of several nonprofits dedicated to conflict resolution. Her recent research focused on using healthcare programs to build trust and bridges between groups in conflict. Noam graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University with a BA in Political Science and Business Administration. She recently completed her Master in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, specializing in Business and Government, where she was honored as a Belfer Young Leader Fellow, an Israel Policy Fellow, and a recipient of the Susan C. Eaton Memorial Prize for her thesis research. 

Speakers and Presenters

Avner Halperin, CEO of Sheba Impact; Chairman of the Board at EyeControl Ltd.; fellow at the Middle East Initiative;
Noam Alon, Fellow at the Middle East Initiative;
Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, Medical doctor with a specialty in internal medicine; fellow at the Middle East Initiative

Organizer

Middle East Initiative