Prof. Amit Gefen
Prof. Amit Gefen
Prof. Gefen is a full Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of Tel Aviv University and the Berman Chair in Vascular Bioengineering. His research focuses in studying normal and pathological effects of biomechanical factors on the structure and function of cells, tissues and organs, with emphasis on applications in acute and chronic wound research
Prof. Amit Gefen
Lab Director
Department of Biomedical Engineering
The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering
Tel Aviv University
Ramat Aviv 69978
Israel
​
Phone: +972-3-6408093
Fax: +972-3-6405845
Research Achievements
The research interests of Prof. Gefen are in studying normal and pathological effects of biomechanical factors on the structure and function of cells, tissues and organs, with emphasis on applications in acute and chronic wound research.
He published more than 270 articles in peer-reviewed international scientific and professional journals, many of which on cell and tissue biomechanics and mechanobiology, with applications that are mostly in chronic wound prevention and treatment.
In 2007-2008 he developed tissue-engineered model systems to study pressure ulcers/injuries at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.
He is also editing a Book Series on Mechanobiology, Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials (published by Springer), and has served as an Associate Editor or at Editorial Boards of several international journals which are ranked at the top of his field, e.g. PLoS One, the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, the Journal of Biomechanics, Medical Engineering & Physics, Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, Journal of Tissue Viability, Ostomy Wound Management and the Journal of Wound Care, to mention a few.
Future Research Directions
Professor Gefen developed and is leading novel research streams focusing on understanding device-related pressure ulcers/injuries in adults and pediatrics, evaluating technologies to mitigate the problem and bringing biomedical engineering innovation into this field of wound prevention and care.
As a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor Gefen feels that engineers can and should contribute to minimizing device-related pressure ulcers/injuries across all care settings, which is his current focus and a career interest.
​
Education
​
2002-2003 University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA.
Postdoctoral Fellowship.
​
1997-2001 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Biomedical Engineering
Ph.D.
​
1994-1997 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Biomedical Engineering
M.Sc.
​
1990-1994 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Mechanical Engineering
B.Sc.
Academic Positions
-
Currently a Full Professor with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of Tel Aviv University and the Herbert J. Berman Chair in Vascular Bioengineering
-
The President of the European Pressure Ulcer Society (the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, EPUAP, www.epuap.org) (2013-2015)
-
The Head of the Ela Kodesz Institute for Medical Engineering and Physical Sciences at Tel Aviv University (2020).
-
Founder and chair of the conference series - Wound Care: From Innovations to Clinical Trials.
-
Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Biomechanics (published by Elsevier), and has also edited several books (published by Springer and others), and several Special Issues in journals such as the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Journal of Biomechanics, Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering and more.
-
A member of the World Council of Biomechanics, a Fellow of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering and the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and a member of the Executive Board of the International Society of Pediatric Wound Care.
-
Chaired the Etiology expert panel for development of the International Pressure Ulcer/Injury Prevention & Treatment Guideline (2019)
-
Chaired the global panel of experts who developed the International Consensus Document for Device-related Pressure Ulcers, published by the Journal of Wound Care (2020)
​
Academic and Professional Award
Awarded the best paper awards by journals such as Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing (2012) and Medical Engineering & Physics (2009).
​
2015 The Editorial Excellence Award by the Annals of Biomedical Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Society in the USA.
2016 The Pressure Care Career Award by the World Union of Wound Healing Societies
2017 The Experienced Investigator Award of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel
2018 The Otto Schmitt Career Award of the International Federation of Medical & Biological Engineering (IFMBE) for “exceptional contributions to the advancement of the field of medical and biological engineering”.
​
Funding
​
The research work of Professor Gefen was supported or is currently being funded by the European Commission, the Israel Science Foundation, The Israeli Ministries of Science & Technology, Health and Defense as well as by national and international corporates.