Speakers' Biographies

Prof. Zvia Agur
Founder, Chairperson and Chief Scientific Officer of Optimata

Since founding Optimata in 2000, Prof. Agur has served as its Chief Scientific Officer and Chairperson. An eminent international biomathematician, Prof. Agur leads Optimata's research maintaining its leadership as a cutting-edge science-based company.

Prof. Agur also founded the basic research Institute for Medical Biomathematics, IMBM, where she serves as president and continues to conduct academic scientific research on related topics.

Prior to the establishment of Optimata, Prof. Agur co-founded the Israeli Society of Theoretical and Mathematical Biology (ISTMB) and the European Society of Mathematical Biology (ESMTB) in the aim of increasing public awareness for the significance of biomathematics to biomedical innovation. She served as President (ISTMB) and Board member (ESMTB) for over six years. Prof. Agur has held academic positions at the Weizmann Institute and Tel Aviv University in Israel, along with international visiting fellowships with Oxford University, Imperial College and others.

Prof. Agur has made major contributions to the theory of disease dynamics, chemotherapy optimization and vaccination policies. Her original and innovative research work has won national awards, and has been widely published in major scientific journals. She serves as editor of scientific journals, has organized leading international conferences and supervises numerous graduate students.

Prof. Agur holds a PhD in mathematical biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Université Libre de Bruxelles.