Marina Leitman, cardiologist and researcher Professor of Cardiology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel, Head of Non-Invasive Cardiology Service in Shamir Medical Center. Worked on the development and first described a new speckle-tracking imaging-based method for quantifying cardiac function – 2D Strain (2004), which is widely cited today, and 2D Strain has become an integral part of modern echocardiography systems. Investigated strain in three myocardial layers, in normal subjects, and in ischemic heart diseases, in exercise stress echocardiography. Evaluated cardiac function in patients with myocarditis and pericarditis with conventional echocardiography, speckle-tracking imaging, and cardiac MRI. Developed modern standards in digital echocardiography regarding echocardiography monitors, workstations, echocardiographic data transmission, and storing. Other topics of scientific interest and publications: infective endocarditis, complications of MI, etc.