Prof. Silvia Koton

Prof. Koton completed her BSN with distinction at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her MOccH and PhD in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Tel Aviv University. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the Centre for the Prevention of Stroke and Dementia, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, UK. Prof. Koton is a full professor in the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine. She serves as Head of the Herczeg Institute and manages the PhD program in the Department of Nursing. Previously, she served as head of the Department of Nursing and managed the RN to BA in Nursing program. Prof. Koton holds is adjunct faculty at the Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability and a strong predictor of dementia and cognitive decline in adult and elderly populations. The incidence of stroke has declined in the last decades in various countries; however, this decline is not consistent across population-groups. Prof. Silvia Koton's varied research includes studies on epidemiology of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases; age and aging; dementia, changes in physical and cognitive functioning after stroke, and health of primary caregivers of the elderly. She studies factors associated with changes in stroke epidemiology and cardiovascular risk factors in Israel and in the US. Her research provides important information on possible reasons for these changes; how the incidence of stroke may be affected by the increasing rates of obesity, diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors, and how the changing trends in stroke may influence rates of physical and cognitive function in old persons. As Head of the Herczeg Institute, she conducts and promotes interdisciplinary research on age and aging.