Amitay Cohen

Russell Berrie Kalaniyot Fellow

Israeli University: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Columbia Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center

Faculty Host: Prof. Brent Stockwell

Research Topic: Finding Evidence for Ferroptosis in Pancreatic Langerhans Cells of Children with Type 2 Diabetes

Amitay is a Junior Faculty member and Consulting Physician in Pediatric Endocrinology at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. He earned his B.Sc. in Biology, summa cum laude, from Tel Aviv University and his M.D. from the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School. Subsequently, he completed his residency in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center.

In his clinical capacity, he serves as an Attending Physician in Pediatrics at Hadassah Mount Scopus and manage an active, diverse pediatric endocrinology clinic. He also leads dedicated Cystic Fibrosis-Related Diabetes and multidisciplinary Endocrinology-Nephrology clinics at Hadassah, providing specialized care to this complex patient population.

He is deeply involved in medical education. Having previously directed the student pediatric clerkship, he continues to extensively teach fourth and sixth-year medical students. He also actively contributes to national medical training standards as a member of the Israeli government medical licensure examination staff and the Pediatric Board Examination Committee.

As a clinician-researcher, his work bridges bedside clinical puzzles with basic laboratory science. His current research focuses on the genetic mechanisms of ovarian dysgenesis and novel approaches to rare genetic forms of diabetes, including Wolfram Syndrome Type 2. His scientific contributions have been recognized with competitive research grants and honors, including the Endocrine Society Outstanding Abstract Award in 2023 and the Israeli Society for Clinical Pediatrics Outstanding Poster Award in 2025.