Doctor Ronit Satchi-Fainaro
Nationality: Israel
Year: 1998
Subject Area: Science and Engineering
Dr. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro received her Bachelor of Pharmacy from the Hebrew University, Israel (1995) and her Ph.D. from London University, UK (1999). Together with Professor Ruth Duncan, she developed PDEPT (Polymer Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy), a novel two-step approach to target tumors. She then completed a two-year postdoctoral appointment at Tel-Aviv University working on protein biochemistry, for which she holds several patents. Ronit spent two years as a Fulbright and Rothschild Scholar at Harvard University and Children’s Hospital Boston working with Dr. Judah Folkman on novel polymer conjugated angiogenesis inhibitors to target tumor vasculature. In 2002, she was appointed Instructor at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Since October 2005, she has been a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston.
Her research interests include investigations relating to tumor biology, mechanism of action of angiogenesis inhibitors and novel approaches to target cancer. Throughout, she has maintained an interest in understanding the biological rationale for the design of polymer therapeutics suitable for transfer into clinical testing. She has written more than 30 articles, reviews and patents, and her work has been recognized via international awards including the CRS-3M Outstanding Research Award in Drug Delivery (1999), CRS-Ethypharm Outstanding Pharmaceutical Paper Award (2003), Igal Alon Fellowship for outstanding young investigators (2006-2009) and The EACR Young Cancer Researcher highly commended Award (2005).