Name Surname : Prof. Rivka Inzelberg (born Refika Garti)
Parents’ Names : Melanie and Yomtov Garti
Date and place of birth : 1959, Istanbul, Turkey
Date of Aliya : 1982
Profession : Medical Doctor and neurologist
Schools attended and medical education:
1969-1976 Notre Dame de Sion, French High School, Istanbul
1976-1982 Istanbul University Medical School, Capa Tip Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey
1982 Medical Doctor, MD degree
1982-1983 Internship, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem
1984-1989 Neurology Specialization, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
1987 Basic Science Thesis. Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science
1989 Israel Board Examination, Specialist in Neurology
1993-1994 Human Movement and Balance Unit, The Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London
CV:
Immediately after graduating from Medical School in 1982, Prof. Rivka Inzelberg immigrated to Israel, married Henri Inzelberg and settled in Tel-Aviv. She has two married children: Adam Inzelberg and Dr. Lilah Inzelberg-Yifa.
During 1982-1983, she worked as a medical intern at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. After successfully finishing the internship, she was accepted for specialization to the Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, under the mentorship of Prof. Amos Korzcyn.
After specialization training during the years 1984-1989, she successfully passed the Israel Board Examinations for Specialty and received the title of Specialist in Neurology in 1989.
In 1987, she worked on her Basic Science thesis under the supervision of Prof. Tamar Flash, at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science on the mathematical analysis of upper limb movements in brain disease such as Parkinson’s disease and other disorders of movement.
Clinical career:
After 1989, Prof. Inzelberg worked as a Senior Neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Tel-Aviv Medical Center and in 1990, she started to teach Neurology to medical students at Tel-Aviv University.
During 1993-1994 she won the Charles Clore International Fellowship Grant and worked in London. She pursued a fellowship at the Human Movement and Balance Unit, The Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, to further specialize on Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders.
In 1996, she moved to the Department of Neurology, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, and continued Neurology teaching at the Rapaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion. In 2006-2007 she was elected to be Director of the Department of Neurology at Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba.
Between the years 2007-2014, Prof. Inzelberg worked as a Senior Neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Sheba Medical Center. Since 2014, she practices neurology in her private clinic and works as a researcher in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Academic teaching career:
In parallel to clinical work, Prof. Inzelberg started to teach neurology in 1995 as Lecturer at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University and in 1999, she became a Senior Lecturer in Neurology. She gave lectures, taught bedside clinical neurology to medical students, psychiatry and geriatric medicine specialists, nurses and physical therapists at Tel Aviv University, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, at the School of Medical Professions and at the Technion, Rapaport Faculty of Medicine. She received the title of Professor in 2006 from the Technion and in 2009 from Tel Aviv University.
Her teaching was greatly appreciated and Prof. Inzelberg was awarded the title of Outstanding Lecturer by the Technion four consecutive years in 2002-2005.
Starting in 1987, she worked at the Weizmann Institute of Science several times. During 2014-2020, she served as Visiting Scientist at the Weizmann Institute, Department of Applied Mathematics.
Prof. Inzelberg teaches Neurology at Tel-Aviv University, Sackler Faculty of Medicine to students specialising in geriatric medicine and psychiatry until today.
Research works, publications:
Prof. Inzelberg’s research focuses on Parkinson’s disease, tremor, dementia and movement disorders. She works on the epidemiology, risk factors, genetics and treatment of these diseases. Among her special topics are the mathematical analysis of human movement, the relationship between brain diseases and cancer and creativity in connection to brain disease.
Prof. Inzelberg’s research has been internationally recognized. She presented her work at international scientific congresses in USA, Canada, Europe and Japan. She contributed more than 125 novel research articles and book chapters published in international scientific journals. These articles were cited by other international scientific papers more than 7,400 times. A list of publications can be reached at https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.rproxy.tau.ac.il/?term=inzelberg+r&sort=date.
Institutions established, supported:
Prof. Inzelberg is a member of the Israel Medical Association, Israel Neurological Association, International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society, American Neurological Association and American Academy of Neurology.
She served at the examination committees for medical students at Tel-Aviv University, the Technion and Neurology Specialization Examination at the Israel Medical Council.
She served in the Oversight Committe of the International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society.
For the last 30 years, Prof. Inzelberg has been volunteering for the Israel Parkinson’s DiseaseAssociation for patient and caregiver support by giving lectures and tools for continuous education.
Outstanding and Permanent contribution /reasons for nomination:
In 2007, Prof. Inzelberg was elected as International Fellow of the American Neurological Association, where less than 10 Israeli Neurologist have ever been accepted in the past 140 years. She was also the first Israeli woman neurologist to receive this honor. This title was awarded on the basis of her internationally recognized clinical and research studies over the years.
She was awarded numerous prestigious research grants including the several million dollar budgeted NIH grant (National Institute of Health, USA) in collaboration with Case Western University, Boston and Louisville University, USA.
Prof. Inzelberg tutored many research students during their medical education, neurology specialization, Master’s and PhD degrees in science. The fruits of these works were published in international science journals. Many of them won prizes at scientific congresses. Her former students have now become senior neurologists and scientists.
Prof. Inzelberg serves as consultant for several pharmaceutical and technological companies for drug and medical technology development.