Eliana was born and raised in Jerusalem. After completing her National Service, in which she tutored elementary school students with learning difficulties and new immigrants, she began her BSc studies in the School of Pharmacy at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She made the Dean's List and completed her degree cum laude, and then, feeling that it was important to implement what she had learned on a practical level, she worked as a licensed pharmacist for a year. Pursuing her passion for science and her desire to seek improved and innovative treatments, she went on to enter the MSc Pharm program at the Hebrew University, in the Nanotechnology excellence track. She earned her MSc Pharm cum laude and was awarded the prize for Outstanding Student in the MSc program with a specialization in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

Eliana is now studying in the Hebrew University’s direct PhD track under the supervision of Prof. Ofra Benny. Her research focuses on developing and perfecting 3-dimensional tumor-on-chip models that accurately reproduce the environment and behavior of individual cancer tumors. These models can be a key to the successful practice of personalized medicine: With the right model for the specific tumor, various drugs in different strengths can be tested on patient-derived tumor cells to determine the best treatment for each patient. It is very important to Eliana that her work has clinical relevance and will significantly help cancer patients.

Alongside her research, Eliana enjoys teaching the Pharmaceuticals Technologies Level B lab course to Pharmacy BSc students. Last year she was selected to participate in the prestigious Teva Bio-Innovation Fellowship and Mentorship Program, which develops leadership and creative out-of-the-box thinking. She was also recently assigned to lead a collaboration with SpacePharma, in which her “organ-on-a-chip” device was launched into space to study the effects of micro-gravitation on mechanical interactions of nanoparticles and tissues. Eliana’s goal is to engaged in high-caliber research that will be of value to the medical community. She has published several papers as first author, presented posters and short talks in numerous conferences, and won several awards and fellowships.