Avner Halperin

Avner Halperin (Hebrew: אבנר הלפרין) is an Israeli entrepreneur and healthcare technology executive. He co-founded EarlySense, a company that developed contact-free patient monitoring systems, and served as its CEO.^[1] Halperin is currently the CEO of Sheba Impact, the commercialization and entrepreneurship arm of Sheba Medical Center.

Avner Halperin
אבנר הלפרין
Born	Avner Halperin Jerusalem
Alma mater	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Tel Aviv University Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupation	CEO
Employer	Sheba Impact
Board member of	EyeControl - Chairman of the Board MyndLift - Director

He also serves as Chairman of the Board of EyeControl, a medical device startup, and is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative. In addition, Halperin teaches a course on artificial intelligence and data economics as an adjunct lecturer at Tel Aviv University.^[2]

Biography

Early life and education

Halperin was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel. In his youth, he spent six years in the United States and attended high school in Washington, D.C. After high school, he served in the IDF.^[3]

He earned a B.Sc. degree in physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an M.Sc. in applied physics from Tel Aviv University.^[4][5] He later completed an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow, where his thesis examined the role of American CEOs in Israeli companies.^[6]

Career

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Halperin held leadership positions in several Israeli technology companies. He worked in R&D and marketing roles at firms such as Eldat Communications and Radcom, and served as vice president at Lenslet. He also co-founded the cybersecurity startup Emmunet with entrepreneur Yossi Vardi, serving as its CEO.^[7][8]

Business and academic career

In 2004, Halperin co-founded EarlySense, a medical technology company developing contactless vital-sign monitoring sensors, alongside Yossi Gross and other partners.^[9][10] He led EarlySense as CEO, guiding the adoption of its continuous monitoring system in hospitals. In February 2021, EarlySense sold the exclusive rights to its technology for hospital use to Hillrom (later part of Baxter International) in a deal worth approximately $30 million.^[10] By that time, EarlySense's bedside sensors had been used to monitor millions of patients and alert caregivers to early signs of deterioration.^[10]

Halperin is listed as an inventor on 34 U.S. patents, primarily in the fields of non-contact medical sensing, wireless communications, and cybersecurity.^[1] In 2016, he was selected to join a Massachusetts trade delegation to Israel led by Governor Charlie Baker, as part of an initiative to strengthen economic and technological ties.^[11][12][13]

In 2020, Halperin was appointed Chairman of the Board of EyeControl, an Israeli startup developing eye-tracking communication devices for ventilated patients.^[14] That year, EyeControl received funding and recognition for its assistive technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[15]

Alongside his entrepreneurial ventures, Halperin has remained active in academia and public speaking. He is an adjunct lecturer at Tel Aviv University, where he teaches about the economics of big data and artificial intelligence.^[16][17][18] In 2019, he delivered a TED talk titled "The Missing Link of Medical AI", discussing the integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare.^[19][20]

Since 2021, Halperin has been affiliated with Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a Senior Fellow. In 2022, he co-authored a Harvard Kennedy School study proposing a blueprint to accelerate the Palestinian high-tech sector’s growth.^[21][22]

In 2024, Halperin led a team of researchers at the MIddle East Initiative of Harvard Kennedy School that published a report on the role of health initiatives in building collaborations between Israelis and Palestinians.^[23] The New England Journal of Medicine published a perspective article co-authored by Halperin about that research.^[23][24]

Published works

• Comment on Compact short-wavelength free-electron laser, A. Gover and A. Halperin, Physical Review Letters 67(14): 1934 (1991) - Discussion on free-electron laser physics.^[25]
• Non-classical Effects in Smith-Purcell Radiation, (M.Sc. thesis, 1993).- Graduate thesis on electron-beam radiation phenomena.^[26]
• Electron-beam-induced super-radiant emission from a grating, A. Halperin, A. Gover, and A. Yariv, Physical Review A 50, 3316, October 1994.^[27]
• Globally dispersed startups, A. Halperin, MIT, 2001. - Study on the operations of international startup teams.^[28]
• Time to Reboot: A Blueprint for the Palestinian Tech Sector, A. Halperin, M. Khweis, E. Sandler, Harvard, 2022^[29]
• A blockchain-based computerized network infrastructure for the transparent, immutable calculation and dissemination of quantitative, measurable parameters of academic and medical research publications, Segal, G., Martsiano, Y., Markinzon, A., Mayer, A., Halperin, A., & Zimlichman, E., Digital Health 9, 2023 - Academic article on using blockchain to track research impact metrics. ^[30]
• A Healthcare Bridge over Troubled Conflicts: A New Model for Building Trust through Joint Healthcare Programs.”, Halperin, A., Abu Fraiha, Y., and Alon N., November 2024, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School. - search report on Israeli-Palestinian collaborative health initiatives.^[23]
• Health Care Bridges - Pathways toward Trust in Gaza and Beyond", Abu Fraiha, Y., Ahmed, A., Alon, N. and Halperin, A., May, 2025, New England Journal of Medicine. - Perspective piece on cross-border healthcare as a means to build trust during conflict.^[23]