Brief Bio: Prof. Arnon Blum received his MD at the Technion, specialized in Internal Medicine at Hebrew University, and then in Cardiology at Tel-Aviv University. He served in the IDF as a Flight Surgeon (Lieutenant Colonel). Since 1999 Prof. Arnon Blum has been the Director of the Internal Medicine Ward at Baruch Padeh Medical Center—Poriya, Tiberias. Prof. Blum further concentrated on Vascular Biology and Vascular Stem Cell research, receiving his training at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA; 1997-1999 and 2006-2008) exploring means for cardio-vascular regeneration. In 2011-12, he was invited as a visiting Professor to lead a clinical trial at the University of Miami for adult (mesenchymal) stem cell transplants to patients with severe heart failure. There, he discovered a key mechanism that explains the beneficial effects of cell transplantation to the failing heart. Prof. Blum has published more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals as well as chapters in invasive cardiology textbooks – the most recent one addressing techniques for stem cell transplantation to the heart (Grossman 8th edition, 2014). He serves on the editorial board of 15 journals in Cardiology, Internal Medicine and Translational Medicine, and is the Editor in Chief of one of these. Prof. Blum is a member of 5 steering committees at Bar-Ilan University’s School of Medicine in the Galilee. His main goal now is to build a Center of Excellence in Regenerative Medicine at the School of Medicine in the Galilee, which will focus on cardiovascular regeneration and include basic research and clinical facilities.

• Endothelial Progenitor Stem Cell Research • Endothelial Function and Vascular Biology • Heart Failure and Preventive Cardiology • Stem Cell Transplantation for Cardiovascular Disease