Nationality Israeli Organization founded MetaCure | Occupation Professor of medicine | |
Born October 15, 1957 (age 59) ( 1957-10-15 ) Known for Co-founder of Biosense Inc. | ||
Prof shlomo ben haim on innovations that are changing the medical industry
Shlomo Ben-Haim MD, DSc. (born October 15, 1957) is an Israeli-born Professor of medicine, a serial entrepreneur specializing in the fields of healthcare and biotech, and a philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Biosense Inc., Spectrum Dynamics Medical Inc., MetaCure Inc., Influence Inc., Radiancy Inc., X-Technologies, Impulse Dynamics N.V., InStent Inc. and Disc-O-Tech Ltd. He has about 480 patent and patent applications. He was also a Member of the GP/Oncology Medical Advisory Board at Spectrum Dynamics Medical, Inc.
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Education
Professor Ben-Haim has an MD from the Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He has a DSc from the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He also has degrees in: nuclear physics, mathematics, biomedical engineering, philosophy, and medicine.
Academic appointments
Professor Ben-Haim has held faculty positions at both Harvard University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology as a Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics. He has published more than 300 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. He held the role of Chief Scientist at Johnson & Johnson's Biosense-Webster.
Business ventures
Professor Ben-Haim founded, co-founded and presided over a number of businesses, mainly in the healthcare and biotech fields. In 1993, he co-founded Biosense (which subsequently merged with Webster to form Biosense-Webster Inc. under J&J). In 1996, he founded Impulse Dynamics where he serves as a chairman of the board. In 2000 he participated in a three-party transaction between Impulse Dynamics, Guidant and Johnson & Johnson. In 2003, he founded MetaCure Inc., where he currently serves as Chairman of the Board. Two years later he co-founded Spectrum Dynamics Inc. where the cardiac application was merged into Biosensors, Inc. and a joint-venture was established for non-cardiac applications. Dr. Ben-Haim also co-founded various other medical device and biomedical firms in the fields of cardiology, obesity, diabetes, esthetics and cosmetics, antiviral medications, deep vein thrombosis prevention, therapy for limb ischemia, and post-stroke and sports-injuries rehabilitation.
In 2005 it was announced that US-based healthcare company Johnson & Johnson invested $80 million in Impulse Dynamics, a company co-founded by Ben-Haim and American entrepreneur Lewis Pell in 1996. The investment was made in 2004, but announced one year later.
Additional firms in the healthcare industry that Ben-Haim has co-founded to date include: InStent Inc. that was merged into Medtronic; Disc-O-Tech Ltd. that was merged into Kyphon which subsequently merged into Medtronic; Radiancy Inc. that was later merged into Photomedex; X-Technologies that was later merged into Guidant; Impulse Dynamics N.V. and Influence Inc. Ben-Haim also co-founded and is now the Chairman of Goji, a company that is developing innovative energy delivery technology. Professor Ben-Haim co-founded several companies which were subsequently sold or merged for over USD 1 billion, including the sale of the following companies: Biosense to Johnson & Johnson, Influence to AMS, and X-Technologies to Guidant. A more detailed table is below:
*the three-way deal between Guidant, Johnson & Johnson and Impulse Dynamics
Ben-Haim holds or held key positions in some of the above companies. For example, he is the Executive Chairman of: Impulse Dynamics NV, MetaCure Limited, Motorika Limited, FlowMedic Limited and Goji Ltd.
In 2010, ITW invested $50m into Goji (which was at that time known as RF Dynamics.)
Prizes and awards
Professor Ben-Haim has received several prizes and awards for his research and inventions. These include: the Juludan Prize for Biomedical Research and the prestigious Andrea Gruntzig Award for Best Inventor.
In 2012, Ben-Haim received an award for his work in Internal Medicine from the Medicine Alumni Society of Iowa. On September 17, 2014, he was recognized by Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospital (the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center or BIDMC) as “an internationally acclaimed cardiologist who developed new ways to correct life-threatening problems in the electrical system of the human heart.” The ‘Shlomo Ben-Haim MD, Professorship in Medicine in the Field of Cardiac Electrophysiology in Honor of Mark E. Josephson MD’ was launched at a reception held at the Harvard Medical School.
Social responsibility
Ben-Haim has taken an active role in various social programs. He set up a philanthropic foundation that seeks to improve health and education for those in underprivileged communities. In 2008 he initiated the Al Bawader Fund with the Dutch social investment fund George Avenue in order to target blended return investments in the Israeli-Arab business community. The fund’s goal was to create employment for Israeli-Arab academics while establishing a high-tech industry for Israeli-Arab ventures.