By Caroline Miller, Senior Specialist, Brand Strategy & Communications
In the face of limited access to donated corneal tissue and long waiting lists for cornea transplant surgeries, two Israeli innovators are rewriting the story of sight restoration in their country—and they’re doing it with a global perspective.
Ruth Cohen and Ma’ayan Avitan, co-founders of Medical Links Ltd., are building bridges across borders, systems and disciplines to deliver healing where it’s needed most. Their recent visit to Eversight headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, wasn’t just a business trip; it was a turning point.
For Ruth and Ma’ayan, they saw mission-driven businesses that can thrive and offered a glimpse into the future they’re determined to create: one rooted in access, excellence and shared purpose.
Two paths, one mission
Physician Ma’ayan Avitan is the tissue bank director at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel and the Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Medical Links. For more than a decade, she has been recovering tissue and teaching others, largely solo. It was her front-line experience—seeing patients wait far too long for life-changing surgery—that sparked her commitment to a deeper mission.
That’s when she met Ruth Cohen, a business leader with a passion for purpose and experience implementing bold ideas. Together, they co-founded Medical Links with a shared vision to not only import needed eye tissue, but to raise the standards of medical service, care and collaboration across Israel.
“We started off with Ma’ayan’s relationships with surgeons within optometry and with surgical care,” Ruth said. “Through our search for tissue banks to work with, Eversight hit all of our requests.”
More than a supplier: Finding a partner in Eversight
“Eversight, really from the very beginning, wasn't just a tissue bank. It was each staff member behind it who really amplified that mission,” Ruth said. “Eversight doesn't just support us in our mission, they also showed us what our vision can actually look like.”
Their partnership with Eversight began nearly two years ago. As it deepened, so did their understanding of what’s possible when purpose leads the way.
“When you're trying to lead something different and you have a vision and you're seeing it actualized someplace else in other ways, it reminds you that it's already been done before,” Ruth said. “It's like there's something to look up to. We're not creating a new world; we're just trying to bring that world here.”
An immersive learning experience
Ruth and Ma’ayan spent several days at Eversight in March 2025, engaging directly with the Donation Support Center, recovery, processing, quality, philanthropy and finance departments.
For Ma’ayan, the trip was especially meaningful from a clinical perspective.
“I learned so much,” she said. “How to procure corneas in a less traumatic way to preserve endothelial cells. How to classify tissue for specific surgeries like DMEK, DSAEK and PKP. I also learned how to do the calculation for DSAEK processing, and how Eversight is processing for DMEK.”
She brought this Eversight Academy knowledge directly back to the Rabin Medical Center, where changes in tissue recovery and processing protocols are already taking shape.
For Ruth, the visit offered insight into what building a sustainable tissue network in Israel might require, beyond tissue itself.
“Running it from a place where it's set up well in the beginning, not just a Band-Aid solution,” Ruth said. “We wanted to understand the entire process, not just for the future, but to understand what goes into tissue banking, so we could do our jobs better and service people better. It was important for us to understand what we don't know.”
That curiosity was met with warmth and generosity.
“From donor eligibility, to processing, to recovery, every single one of those teams––we walked away with such deeper understanding, not just of the process, but also how it was all mission infused,” Ruth said.
“The part that blew me away even further was how even the finances were mission infused. Not often do you come across a company that tells you that they have a mission and they actually lead with it,” she said.
Transforming systems, empowering people
The impact of their visit is already rippling outward. Ma’ayan has made changes to how she recovers and processes eye tissue, and Medical Links is initiating conversations with other public hospitals about piloting new services based on what they learned.
“Seeing these things in action helped us refine our offers,” Ruth said. “It has given us ideas for longer term and how we can serve in bigger ways. Like the philanthropy department, which we had never considered, but seeing how Eversight has it set up, that's something that we could do down the line.”
And it’s not just about adopting tools. It’s about shifting mindsets.
“Ma’ayan learned how to recover tissue in another country,” Ruth said. “She came back and for the last 14 years she's been recovering tissue and teaching others. But she really hasn't had anyone else to learn from. So, coming to Eversight and seeing how each technician has their own tips and tricks and their own expertise, was huge in the learning process.”
The mentorship model Ruth observed at Eversight gave her hope.
“Our goal wasn't to look for a tissue bank that could just provide us tissue,” she said. “We were looking to work with a tissue bank that had a mission that we could co-mission together––that we could help each other out and in the grand scheme, provide more healing in the world, not just tick boxes.”
Why global education matters
Both Ruth and Ma’ayan see international collaboration as essential for growth, not just for Israel, but for any country striving to do better.
“The way the world is made, we all have access to different things, and I truly believe that in a world that is so different, if we're not willing or desiring to learn from each other, the good we want to do will always be limited,” Ruth said.
Ma’ayan agreed: “I think it's very important because we are in this job to help and to restore sight to blind people. This information and practice can help with this goal.”
That philosophy is already guiding their next steps. Ma’ayan is leading efforts to build a new eye bank within the Rabin Medical Center, and both co-founders are exploring how to serve other parts of the Middle East in the future.
Rooted in purpose: The gift of sight
For both women, eye, organ and tissue donation isn’t just part of a medical system—it’s a sacred act.
“To me, it’s a beautiful way for us humans to be co-creators with existence,” Ruth said. “To take something finite and make it infinite.”
Another takeaway for Ruth was learning how many people work behind the scenes to facilitate the gift of sight and honor donor wishes.
“It's interesting how one gift, something so small, affects many throughout the process if you allow it to, if you have the honor of allowing it to,” Ruth said.
Their visit reaffirmed the purpose behind Ma’ayan’s work.
“This is not just a job,” she said. “It’s a mission to give hope to people who are suffering. That’s why we do this.”
