Ephrat Levy-lahad MD

Dr. Ephrat Levy-Lahad, MD, is Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Genetics at Hebrew University and Director of the Medical Genetics Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. She is one of the world's foremost authorities on inherited breast cancer among Jewish women. Dr. Levy-Lahad received her medical degree from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Shaare Zedek Medical Center also in Jerusalem and a three-year fellowship in Medical Genetics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Since 1996, she has been Director of the Medical Genetics Institute and senior physician in the Department of Medicine at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Dr. Levy-Lahad holds a faculty appointment as Professor in Medicine and Genetics at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem.

Professor Levy-Lahad's clinical laboratory includes cancer genetics diagnostics and large pre-implantation diagnosis service. Her research laboratory focuses on the genetics of breast cancer, in particular the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, and on genetic and environmental factors that affect the risk associated with these mutations. She studies the application of genetic testing to population screening and large-scale prevention efforts. Her laboratory is also involved in elucidating the genetic basis of rare diseases, including recent discoveries of novel genes for a rare congenital neurological disease in Ashkenazi Jews, and for defects in ovarian development.

Professor Levy-Lahad is active in bioethical aspects of genetic research and is currently co-Chair of the Israel National Bioethics Council. She is a member of Israel's National Council for Women's Health and the National Council for Gynecology, Perinatal Medicine, and Genetics. Internationally, she was a member of UNESCO's IBC (International Bioethics Committee) (2006-2009).