Sharon Kaplinsky
CEO
Sharon is a leading specialist in international business development in the healthcare and technology industries.
Moved by the brilliantly innovative and resilient ability of Israeli start-ups to contribute to the world's most pressing challenges, Sharon was inspired to help accelerate the growth of Israeli technologies and connect them with the right partners and investors.
And Star Tree Ventures was born.
Prior to starting Star Tree, Sharon founded and managed business development and strategic planning for Orphan Technologies, Ltd., an Israeli company focused on researching and developing innovative therapies for rare, life-threatening diseases. In this role, she conducted due diligence on hundreds of early-stage healthcare products and identified and led in-licensing transactions. In October 2020, Retrophin (NASDAQ: RTRX) announced agreement to acquire Orphan Technologies in a deal worth $517M.
Prior to that, Sharon was an associate consultant at Defined Health (now Cello Health), a leading business development consulting company in New Jersey. In that capacity, she provided strategic advice, support and due diligence to leading global biopharmaceutical corporations that focused on the scientific, clinical, regulatory and commercial outlooks for their products.
She also served as a research analyst at Science and Technology Ventures, the technology transfer office of Columbia University.
Sharon has evaluated hundreds of therapeutic products in dozens of indications for biopharmaceutical companies as well as for leading healthcare investment funds.
She is a board member at Ramot, the technology transfer office of Tel Aviv University and at TAU Ventures, an early-stage focused venture capital fund affiliated with Tel Aviv University.
Sharon holds an M.A. in biotechnology from Columbia University and a B.Sc. summa cum laude in biology from Tel Aviv University, where she was a member of the Special Honors Research Program.
Prof. Arie Orenstein, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Professor Orenstein is board certified in plastic surgery and is the director of the Goldschleger Advanced Technology Center.
Professor Orenstein served as the chairman of the Sheba Medical Center Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Burns for twenty years. In addition, Professor Orenstein served as co-chairman of the Israel Medical Association for twelve years, and he was the Israeli representative on the board of the World Medical Association for fifteen years.
Prof. Orenstein is an internationally recognized expert on the use of lasers in medicine, and in particular the clinical application of photodynamic therapy (PDT), an experimental method that uses light to cure skin cancer. While working both in Israel and abroad, he pioneered the use of novel laser systems and contributed to the understanding of the fundamental role of oxygen molecules in PDT.
He serves on the boards of Healthwatch, Hip Hope Technologies and Nova Sight and is a medical advisor to a number of Israeli companies.
