MEET TOVANA HEALTH

TOVANA Health was established to provide individuals with insights about their health using big data genomics, digital health metrics and TeleHealth services.

The word TOVANA stands for insights in the Hebrew language and good health in the language of Farsi.

TOVANA Health is a personalized bioinformatics company and virtual laboratory created as an initiative to empower every person with the most up-to-date scientific and health information available based on data derived from a persons very own genome (DNA) and other data sources. With this data an individual and their healthcare providers are armed with the knowledge to make the most informed decisions about their health and lifestyle that could have long-term benefits and potentially contribute to a person's longevity and improved quality of life.

Simply put we are enabling precision medicine for all citizens of the world and will continue to do so in future.

OUR TEAM

The TOVANA Health team is comprised of a diverse group of leading physicians, scientists, bioinformaticians, engineers, nutritionists, pharmacologists, genetic counselors, designers, software developers and other professionals dedicated to providing the most up-to-date personalized and actionable health information and access to care through our proprietary cloud-based platform to empower people to live longer, healthier lives.

The Team

Gidon Akler, M.D. FACMG

Founder and Chief Executive Officer; Medical Director

Dr. Akler is a medical geneticist and entrepreneur with a background in computer science and biomedical engineering prior to receiving his medical degree and training in pediatrics and genetics. He is experienced in translational research and development of genetic testing being used extensively in the market today.

Dr. Akler is the visionary of the company and believes taking a precise and personalized approach to health by combining big data genomics, digital device metrics and easy access to care via TeleHealth. Through the TOVANA Health platform individuals will be able to obtain many insights about their health and develop a tailored health plan with guidance from their own healthcare providers or a provider on the TOVANA TeleHealth network.

Luís Filipe Cunha, PhD

Lead Bioinformatics, Backend design and Project Manager

Dr. Cunha is an experienced bioinformatician and software engineer who is involved in the planning and design of the platform architecture. He the lead backend developer for the genomics bioanalysis.

Jennifer Papapanagiotou, JD

Medical Legal and Regulatory Affairs

Ms. Jennifer Papapanagiotou with Liles Parker, PLLC is an experienced medical-legal lawyer who serves as outside legal counsel for medical legal and regulatory affairs for the company. Ms. Papapanagiotou helps to ensure that the company adheres to federal and state regulations and functions in an ethical manner. For her full bio go to the following link: http://www.lilesparker.com/attorneys/jennifer-papapanagiotou/

Netanel BenChaim, JD

General Counsel, Business Affairs

Mr. BenChaim is a graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and has been serving clients in the area of business law for over 13 years. Mr. BenChaim serves as the companies general counsel for business affairs to ensure best business practices.

Eyal Sagi

Chief Financial Officer

Eyal Sagi is an experienced accountant and businessman. He serves as the chief financial officer and handles all accounting affairs for TOVANA Health. Eyal is known for his honesty, integrity and unwillingness to compromise his ethics. His entrepreneurial spirit and flexibility allow him to always be ready to adapt to change and growth. Eyal Sagi attended Queens College earning a degree in Accounting and Business Administration which gives him the deep understanding of how markets interact with the greater economy in order to bring in the greatest profits to the company.

Prior to joining TOVANA Health, Mr. Sagi was the CFO of the second largest diamond dealer in Belgium as well as engaging in the fish farming business. He also is the CFO and partner of SKYLAND Equities, a real estate firm based in NY. In the real estate industry he works in rehabilitating and managing multifamily homes in the Brooklyn/Queens area. In the recent years, Eyal Sagi has been directly involved in nearly one for facilitating over $25 Million in loans use for acquisitions of real estate. Eyal oversees the execution of the firm’s investment objectives and plays an integral role in the decision making process. Eyal has effectively evaluated and implemented company-level business plans working in conjunction with the owner/founder.

Alisa Umanskaya, PhD

Branding & Creative Design

Dr. Alisa Umanskaya serves as one of the lead creative designers of TOVANA Health, developing the company’s corporate and product visual branding.

Dr. Umanskaya is Vice President of Brand Development for Brand Institute (www.brandinstitute.com), a global agency specializing in brand name and visual identity development. As a member of the Global Account Executive Team, Alisa leverages her robust scientific background to drive healthcare branding initiatives from concept to fruition. Alisa earned her Ph.D. in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University and her B.A. degree from Macaulay Honors College - CUNY Hunter College.

Juan Guillen

Branding & Creative Design

Juan Guillen serves as one of the lead creative designers of TOVANA Health, developing the company’s corporate and product visual branding. Juan is Design Director for Brand Institute (www.brandinstitute.com), a global agency specializing in brand name and visual identity development. As a senior member of the company’s in-house design team, Juan oversees a team of designers specializing in the development of marketing collateral such as product logos and packaging, corporate identities, brand guidelines, and presentations. He earned his B.A. in Electronic Design and Multimedia from The City College of New York.

Eyal Akler

Chief Technical Adviser

Mr. Akler is an experienced technology engineer and business executive serving as chief technical adviser and is also part of the business advisory board of the company. Mr. Akler has successfully launched a few technology firms and is currently the CEO of ATTYWON, an all-around technology consulting firm specializing in Technology Systems and Integration, Home Automation, Audio/Video, Home Theater, Computers, Networks, CCTV and IP Surveillance; Video Gaming, Smart Home/Smart Office. Previously, he was also the CTO of Commodore Gaming and CEO of Hypersonic PC, one of the top boutique gaming firms in the industry, that was acquired by another company in 2007.

Scientific & Medical Advisory Board

Sarah Sullivan, MD

National Health Services; Amnesty International

Dr. Sullivan completed her MBBS on the prestigious Graduate and Professional Entry Program at Kings College School of Medicine in London. She had previously worked in human rights, latterly for five years as the Deputy Representative at the UN for Amnesty International in New York. Dr. Sullivan has completed a year of Emergency Medicine in New York, at an inner-city hospital and her foundation training in the UK. Dr. Sullivan serves as one of the medical ethics advisers for the company helping to ensure the best consumer patient experience possible.

Lambert Titus K. Parker, MD

Integrative Medicine Specialist

Dr. Parker currently serves as President and Medical Director for Integrative Longevity Institute of Virginia (ILIV). As a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Scientific Medical Research and Education Institute of human ecology and medical sciences, Dr. Parker and ILIV also collaborate with Hampton Roads Hyperbaric Therapy to design and preserve the integrity of their Research and Education Programs.

Research is second nature to Dr. Parker. Dr. Parker is best known for fostering the Human Ecology approach of personalized integrative medicine, creating the prototype for future healthcare. He is a physician who has consciously and successfully integrated American and European medical trainings of both traditional and non-traditional medical model with internal medicine. He has an exceptional talent of being able to take the best of all modalities and customizing it to each patient to achieve optimal outcomes. For the past 25 years he has had the dedication, tenacity and perseverance to develop the Human Ecology model and apply it to Internal Medicine -pioneering a blueprint for personal health care for today, tomorrow and for future generations. His emphasis on customized care never forsakes solid science in the quest to provide physical, mental and ecological optimization.

Jack Vanden Heuvel, PhD

Nutrigenomics specialist

Dr. Vanden Heuvel is a professor of molecular toxicology and head of the Center for Excellence in Nutrigenomics at Penn State University. His area of research is focused on nuclear receptors (NR) such as the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) that play important roles in both toxicology and nutrition. Dr. Vanden Heuvel is involved with product development and is the scientific adviser for nutrigenomics and related traits for the company.

David Chen, PhD

Molecular pharmacologist and geneticist

Dr. David Chen is a molecular pharmacologist and geneticist focused on the areas of pharmacogenomics and oncology. He serves on the product development team and scientific advisory board of the company.

David worked for several first tier global pharmaceutical companies from 1997 to 2017, including Bayer, Merck, Sanofi-Aventis, and Hoffmann-La Roche. His most recent position, held since 2011, was Sr. Director of Correlative Science and Precision Medicine in Global Oncology Development, Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

David’s two decade experience in pharmaceutical research is mostly in clinical biomarker and pharmacogenetics that are related to drug development, approvals, and commercialization. He was the biomarker team leader of many global programs for full development stage compounds as well as marketed products. These included both small molecule entities as well as biological agents on various molecular mechanisms. His research interest and expertise spans from broad biomarker discovery, validation, testing to specific biomarker application in clinical development and therapeutic optimizations, with a focus primarily in oncology and rare genetic diseases.

David received his BS degree in biology from Peking University, his MS and PhD in physiology and molecular pharmacology from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. David’s postdoctoral training was at the National Cancer Institute. He also completed a clinical biochemical genetics fellowship eligible for the American Board of Medical Genetics at the NIH. He is the author of about forty research papers on drug metabolizing enzymes, drug transporters, genetic diseases, pharmacogenetics, clinical oncology biomarker and precision medicine. Many of these appeared in high impact journals such as Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Nature Genetics, JCI, JCO, JNCI, and JBC.

Laura Pisani, MD

Clinical Geneticist with focus on metabolic genetic diseases

Dr. Pissani is a specialist in metabolic genetics and is currently and has years of clinical genetics experience. She completed her genetics training at Mount Sinai hospital in NY and has held positions at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in NY and Northwell Health in Nassau county. She serves as counsel for metabolic / biochemical genetics questions/cases.

Daniela Neman

RD CSO CDN

Daniela Neman is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with over six years of experience in both clinical nutrition and private counseling. She began her path with coursework at NYU, followed by a dietetic internship at Northwell Health. Daniela started her career at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where she provided medical nutrition therapy for oncology patients in addition to working with other patient populations. Currently, Daniela manages worksite wellness initiatives for Columbia University employees. In addition, she manages her private nutrition practice where she supports clients in achieving weight management and other nutrition related goals. Daniela has a passion for balancing tasty food with health and is enthusiastic about sharing this with everyone she works with!

Ms. Neman is helping to develop personalized nutrition plans for clients and will be providing nutrition counseling via the platform.

Allison Scheinfeld

MS, RD, CDN

Allison Scheinfeld, MS, RD, CDN is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Dietitian Nutritionist with a Masters of Nutrition Science. Allison was previously on staff at Montefiore Medical Center and is currently a Clinical Dietitian at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Her private practice, Allison Scheinfeld Nutrition, focuses on personalized nutrition for Women's Health & PCOS. As of 2014, Allison became a Nutrition Ambassador for Just Salad's Chelsea (NYC) location. In her spare time, she enjoys running, hot vinyasa yoga and traveling. Ms. Scheinfeld is helping to develop personalized nutrition plans for clients and will be providing nutrition counseling via the platform.

Judy Sabzevari Yadgar

MS RD CDN CDE

Ms. Sabzevari Yadgar is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator who is helping to develop personalized nutrition plans for clients and will be providing nutrition counseling via the platform.

Business Advisory Board

Bahman Bob Kamali

Business strategy

Mr. Kamali is a veteran business man with more than 40 years of experience. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Master’s degree in Statistics and was on the PhD track in Biostatistics at SUNY University at Buffalo in affiliation with the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Mr. Kamali is currently the CEO of a leading company in the world-wide leather industry and is an experienced venture capitalist in real estate and other industries. In addition, Mr. Kamali was always fascinated with the health and genetics of his community and helped co-found a non-for-profit organization to promote education and awareness about genetic diseases in his community. Mr. Kamali also lost a grandchild to a genetic disease and is on a personal mission to prevent genetic diseases in our society spurring interest in the genetics industry to develop programs for his and related communities.

Eyal Sagi

Chief Financial Officer

Eyal Sagi is an experienced accountant and businessman. He serves as the chief financial officer and handles all accounting affairs for TOVANA Health. Eyal is known for his honesty, integrity and unwillingness to compromise his ethics. His entrepreneurial spirit and flexibility allow him to always be ready to adapt to change and growth. Eyal Sagi attended Queens College earning a degree in Accounting and Business Administration which gives him the deep understanding of how markets interact with the greater economy in order to bring in the greatest profits to the company.

Prior to joining TOVANA Health, Mr. Sagi was the CFO of the second largest diamond dealer in Belgium as well as engaging in the fish farming business. He also is the CFO and partner of SKYLAND Equities, a real estate firm based in NY. In the real estate industry he works in rehabilitating and managing multifamily homes in the Brooklyn/Queens area. In the recent years, Eyal Sagi has been directly involved in nearly one for facilitating over $25 Million in loans use for acquisitions of real estate. Eyal oversees the execution of the firm’s investment objectives and plays an integral role in the decision making process. Eyal has effectively evaluated and implemented company-level business plans working in conjunction with the owner/founder.

Eyal Akler

Chief Technical Adviser

Mr. Akler is an experienced technology engineer and business executive serving as chief technical adviser and is also part of the business advisory board of the company. Mr. Akler has successfully launched a few technology firms and is currently the CEO of ATTYWON, an all-around technology consulting firm specializing in Technology Systems and Integration, Home Automation, Audio/Video, Home Theater, Computers, Networks, CCTV and IP Surveillance; Video Gaming, Smart Home/Smart Office. Previously, he was also the CTO of Commodore Gaming and CEO of Hypersonic PC, one of the top boutique gaming firms in the industry, that was acquired by another company in 2007.

Our technology & services

At TOVANA Health we apply the most cutting edge technologies and sound scientific knowledge available to bring our users the most up-to-date, accurate and precise information about their personal health, wellness and traits.

The TOVANA Health big data cloud-based platform provides you with up-to-date insights about your genomic data and health. Our platform will constantly evolve to integrate many sources of health data to give you the most comprehensive and precise information about your health state to allow you to make informed decisions that could have a long-lasting positive impact on your health.

  • Genomic whole exome sequencing is achieved using the Illumina sequencing technology with an average depth/coverage of 80X covering over 50 million data points.
  • Microarray testing is performed using the Illumina iScan technology with a customized chip covering over 700,000 data points.
  • The TOVANA Health proprietary knowledgebase database applies the most up-to-date and solid scientific data available today for annotation and interpretation of your results. Your genomic data is then analyzed and interpreted by board certified genomic/genetic specialists.
  • We know how complicated genomic data could be so we have created a user-friendly genome report that you can use to explore your genome and gain valuable insights.
  • Use the DNA UNLOCKED® report to get personalized insights about your genomic data and health that you and your healthcare providers could use to create a personalized health plan so that you can potentially live a healthier and longer life.

Licenses & Affiliations

At TOVANA Health we work with the highest quality laboratories and services that adhere to the most stringent regulatory regulations. This ensures that your results and data are as accurate and precise as possible. We are also a CLIA certified organization.