Tamar Hermesh, PhD
Accelerated Medical Program Student at Tel Aviv University, Israel
2011 NYSCF – Druckenmiller Fellow Alumna
PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Postdoctoral Training, The Rockefeller University
Bio
Dr. Hermesh used stem cell models to monitor the immune response of the central nervous system in patients with herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE), a rare neurological disease that manifests only in certain children. She focused on identifying genetic defects that cause HSE. During the course of her fellowship, she also expanded her research to include fulminant viral hepatitis (FVH), a rare syndrome characterized by rapid and massive liver cell death. Dr. Hermesh identified a mutation in a gene responsible for programmed cell death, which could stand as the first genetic cause of FVH. She completed her postdoctoral studies at Rockefeller in Dr. Jean-Laurent Casanova’s lab.