About Notal Vision

Dr. Kester Nahen is the Chief Executive Officer at Notal Vision, where he was previously the Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to his time at Notal Vision, Dr. Nahen was Managing Director of ophthalmic diagnostic device manufacturer Heidelberg Engineering GmbH and served on the board of the company’s US subsidiary. He led the Heidelberg Engineering commercial organization through over 10 years of strong growth. From 2001 to 2006, Dr. Nahen worked in various product development, product management, medical science and professional education roles at Laserscope Inc., a Silicon Valley based medical laser company. Dr. Nahen was a member of the AMS/Laserscope merger executive team. He received his PhD in physics from the Medical University of Lübeck, Germany.

Mr. Nonhoff is Chief Financial Officer of Notal Vision Inc. and Director of the company’s Innovation Center in Israel. Mr. Nonhoff has more than 20 years leading finance and operational functions across various industries in emerging companies with disruptive technologies and large corporate enterprises. Before joining Notal Vision, Mr. Nonhoff was the CFO of Pixium Vision, a medical device startup company developing a bionic vision system for visually impaired patients suffering from dry AMD. In the two years prior, he served as CFO of Trigo Vision, a leading startup in the retail tech space based in Israel, helping the founders achieve commercial readiness while raising material capital. Prior to Trigo he worked for three years as CFO of Fresenius Medical Care integrating a large Israeli dialysis clinic chain into corporate structures. During his five years as CFO at BONESUPPORT he was able to lead the company from the early stages of commercialization, through hyper growth, and all the way to a successful IPO. Before that, Mr. Nonhoff was the CFO of the EMEA Headquarters of Lumenis. He started his career working for more than 15 years at Siemens, beginning in the accounting department in Germany until becoming the co-founder of Siemens in Israel and spending 12 years building a multi-million-dollar franchise. Born and raised in Berlin, Mr. Nonhoff studied in Germany and the USA receiving his BA of Industrial Business Administration from the IHK in Munich.

As Chief Scientific Officer, Mr. Benyamini is responsible for clinical trial and data science activities. He led the Notal Vision Innovation Center from 2016-2024. During his 20+ years at Notal Vision, Mr. Benyamini had a leadership role in obtaining de novo marketing authorization for the SCANLY Home OCT breakthrough designation device from the FDA, in the development and manufacturing of ForeseeHome and in the initiation and successful execution of the AREDS2-HOME study in collaboration with the National Eye Institute. Prior to joining Notal Vision, Mr. Benyamini was Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing at LaserComm, a telecommunications company based in Dallas, Texas. Prior to that, he held various positions in the Israeli hi-tech industry. Mr. Benyamini holds an engineering degree from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

Mr. Aizikovich is leading the Engineering, Manufacturing and Supply Chain activities of Notal Vision and has vast experience as a senior leader of global operations organizations of multidisciplinary technology products. Before joining Notal Vision, Mr. Aizikovich was a VP of Operations at EPOS Technology, later acquired by Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). Prior to that he was VP of Operations at BioView (TLV: BIOV). In addition, Mr. Aizikovich held engineering and manufacturing management positions at Card Guard-LifeWatch, a cardiac remote monitoring pioneer, Phone-or Ltd and Neuromedical Systems Inc. Mr. Aizikovich holds a bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in business administration from COLMAN, Israel.

Ms. Benedict is the Vice President of Strategy and Operations at Notal Vision. Ms. Benedict offers over 25 years of healthcare senior management experience in operational areas, with a primary focus on strategy, planning and implementing healthcare solutions for disease management. Prior to her time at Notal Vision, Ms. Benedict held several instrumental roles directing corporate services and healthcare operations, marketing services and client strategies. Her previous experiences include numerous senior management positions focused on experience management, acquisition, and retention of customers in key service lines in the healthcare industry. Ms. Benedict graduated from University in South Florida in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Nishant Mohan is the Vice President of Product at Notal Vision. Previously he served as Chief Technology Officer at Tesseract Health, and Chief Product and Technology Officer at PhotoniCare, Inc. Dr. Mohan has led development and commercialization of several products in the medical device space and received the Early Career Achievement Award from SPIE, the International Society of Optics and Photonics. He has a postdoctoral degree from Harvard Medical School, a doctorate in biomedical engineering from Boston University and undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Mr. Rachutin is the Vice President of Cloud Software Development and IT Systems responsible for the organization's data management and clinical operations infrastructure. Since 2006, he has led multiple globally distributed software development teams and was instrumental in bringing the company’s ForeseeHome AMD Monitoring Program to market. Prior to joining Notal Vision, Mr. Rachutin served 6 years in the Israel Defense Forces' “MAMRAM” elite computer unit. Mr. Rachutin holds a bachelor of science (BSc) degree in computer science and a MBA from Open University of Israel.

Dr. Rapp joined Notal Vision close to its inception in 2001 and, in 2007, became the Vice President of Research and Development. In this role he managed the development of the ForeseeHome AMD Monitoring Program towards commercialization. Currently, as Executive Vice President of Research and Product Development, he manages the production of pipeline technologies. Prior to joining Notal Vision, he worked as a senior software engineer for several companies in the virtual reality space for TV broadcast, as well as solutions for active eBusiness intelligence. Dr. Rapp holds PhD and MSc degrees in neuroscience and a BSc degree in computer science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Mr. Katsav has been with Ganot Capital since 2009. He has extensive financial and strategic experience with healthcare companies across many specialties and throughout the world. He oversees investments in biopharmaceutical and medical device companies as well as buyouts of healthcare service companies. Mr. Katsav serves on the board of directors of eight portfolio companies, ranging from healthcare services companies with thousands of employees to med-tech and biotech start-ups developing life-altering, cutting-edge technologies. Prior to joining Ganot, Mr. Katsav worked in global healthcare investment banking for 8 years, most recently at Lazard. He graduated from Tel Aviv University with degrees in law and economics, and received an MBA from Columbia University.

Dr. Kester Nahen is the Chief Executive Officer at Notal Vision, where he was previously the Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to his time at Notal Vision, Dr. Nahen was Managing Director of ophthalmic diagnostic device manufacturer Heidelberg Engineering GmbH and served on the board of the company’s US subsidiary. He led the Heidelberg Engineering commercial organization through over 10 years of strong growth. From 2001 to 2006, Dr. Nahen worked in various product development, product management, medical science and professional education roles at Laserscope Inc., a Silicon Valley based medical laser company. Dr. Nahen was a member of the AMS/Laserscope merger executive team. He received his PhD in physics from the Medical University of Lübeck, Germany.

Yaron Elad serves as Elron Ventures' Managing Partner and CEO. Previously, Mr. Elad served as the Elron Ventures' CFO and established its enterprise software investment activities. He has vast experience in technology investments with a strong background in financial management, strategic deals, fundraising, business and board advisory. Mr. Elad is a director of several of Elron Ventures' portfolio companies and has been involved and led many M&As. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in Economics and Accounting and an master of science degree in Finance, both from Tel Aviv University.

Eliot Lazar, MD is a clinical ophthalmologist who has focused his efforts on the development of ophthalmology assets from the early pre-clinical stages through to commercial relevance. He has been involved in advancing meaningful therapeutics, drug delivery platforms, and devices through all stages, and has been involved with a wide swath of the ophthalmology ecosystem. Eliot has worked extensively with the investment community, the clinical community and strategic participants in order to advance new and important technologies. For greater than a quarter century, Dr. Lazar has served in various capacities across the ophthalmology community and is a frequent lecturer and advisor to a wide section of the ecosystem.

Dr. Loewenstein is a professor and director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center. She is considered one of the top international opinion leaders in the field of vitreoretinal disease and surgery. Dr. Loewenstein has had more than 280 publications in peer-reviewed ophthalmology journals, as well as over 20 book chapters. She has been a principal investigator in multiple multicenter drug and device studies, as well as a variety of investigator driven trials. Her main focus of research interest is early detection of macular degeneration including the development of unique technology, drug toxicity of the retina, drug delivery and penetration into the retina, and the treatment of retinal vascular disease. Dr. Loewenstein has received multiple international recognitions and awards, the most notable being The Macula Society’s Arnall Patz Medal for outstanding contribution in studies of retinal and macular diseases and The Macula Society’s Rosenthal Award.

Mr. Oswald is an ophthalmic industry veteran and the former CEO of Notal Vision. Prior to joining Notal Vision, Mr. Oswald served as CEO of Neurotech Pharmaceuticals. As CEO of SARcode Bioscience, he was instrumental in the clinical development of lifitegrast ophthalmic solution 5% (Xiidra^®) for the treatment of dry eye disease, and its subsequent sale to Shire, PLC. Previously, he was Vice President & Business Unit Head for Genentech’s Tissue Growth and Repair Business. During his tenure at Genentech, Mr. Oswald oversaw the highly successful commercial launch of Lucentis^® (ranibizumab injection) for the treatment of wet AMD. Prior to Genentech, Mr. Oswald led the North American Ophthalmology business for Novartis, which, in conjunction with QLT, Inc., pioneered Visudyne^® (verteporfin for injection), the first drug treatment for wet AMD. Mr. Oswald also serves on the board of directors at Okogen, a developer of innovative ophthalmic therapeutics.