Drs. Mark and Ora Pescovitz arean amazing couple. Dr. Ora Pescovitz is a nationally recognized pediatric endocrinologist and researcher who has published 180 papers and books, and received numerous awards for her research and teaching. She has served as the as president of the Society for Pediatric Research, president of the Lawson Wilkins (North American) Pediatric Endocrine Society, chair of the March of Dimes Grants Review Committee, and a member of the Ad-Hoc Group for Medical Research Funding, the board of the Hormone Foundation, the board of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI), and the board of the Children’s Miracle Network. Her awards and honors include a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, the distinguished alumnus award from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, being named one of Modern Healthcare's 2009 Top 25 Women in Healthcare and recognition as one of Crain’s 2009 “Women to Watch.”
 
In May of 2009 Ora became the first female Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Michigan Health System.  She is responsible for the leadership and management of a health system comprised of a community of 20,000 employees, oversight of $2.9 billion in revenue and a medical school with more than $445 million in research expenditures. 

Prior to taking the University of Michigan post, Ora had an extensive career serving as Executive Associate Dean for Research Affairs at Indiana University School of Medicine, President and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children and interim Vice President  for Research Administration at Indiana University.

Ora and her three brothers grew up in a devoted Jewish home.  She is fluent in Hebrew and spent much time in Israel, where her parents and extended family live.  She has previously been honored as the Hasten Hebrew Academy’s Woman of Valor.

Dr. Mark Pescovitz is Professor of Microbiology/Immunology and Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA, where he has been since 1988. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University in Chicago. Mark’s general and transplant surgery training were at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He completed a four-year research fellowship in the Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute, focusing on porcine immunology. His research interests include B cell immunology, type 1 diabetes, cytomegalovirus infection and clinical transplant immunosuppression. His current surgical focus is in dialysis access.

Mark has served on many national transplant committees including as the UNOS Region 10 councillor, the UNOS executive board of directors and the American Transplant Congress Executive Planning committee. He is an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Transplantation, serves on the editorial board of Transplantation and Clinical Transplantation, and has authored more than 250 scientific publications. Dr. Pescovitz is respected internationally and has been invited to present his research results at meetings in over 30 countries. He is certified by both the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Histocompatibility and Immunology. For his successful efforts in training the surgeons and physicians in, and establishing the, renal transplant program at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and Moi University in Eldoret Kenya, he has been designated a “village elder”.

In the non-medical area, Mark Pescovitz is an accomplished photographer having had a solo exhibition at the Herron Gallery in Indianapolis in 2008 and group show at the GASP gallery in Boston in 2009. He is active in the non-profit community as a board member of the Dean’s Council Herron School of Art, the Indianapolis Opera, the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and the Indiana State Museum. He serves on the board of directors of the Hasten Hebrew Academy, is on the executive board of the Jewish Community Relations Council, and serves on the executive board and is treasurer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis of which he is also the campaign chair. 

Karol Cook always wanted to be a teacher. She was Influenced by her   mother who taught for over 35 years. Both Karol and her twin sister, Lisa became teachers.

Teaching in many different locations with diverse cultures in both the United States and Germany has enriched Karol’s teaching experiences.  Karol attended California State University in Sacramento, where, in 1980, she earned a B.A. degree in liberal studies. Karol’s first teaching assignment was in a small farming community in Hanford, California.  Karol had always wanted to travel the world and experience different cultures, so after two years in California Karol went to work for the Department of Defense Schools. Her first big adventure was traveling alone to Germany where she was assigned to an Army school in Ansbach.  While her first year was very busy one, she did have time to meet a young Army Officer and fall in love.  A year later they were married in Savannah, Georgia.  Four days after their wedding, her husband, Don, was deployed to Honduras where he served for seventeen months out of their first two years of marriage.   

After serving their country for 20 years the Cooks retired to Indiana.  Karol found a wonderful teaching position and family at the Hasten Hebrew Academy.  She taught fifth grade for eight years and has been teaching first grade for six years.

 Karol and Don are very involved in their church community. They host a prayer group and share their house on Sundays with a Senior High youth group.  This summer, for the third time, they are will be teaching Vacation Bible School to children in the Mango Valley of Jamaica

The Cooks have three children, Aaron, 25, lives and works in the Speedway area. Sarah, 23, graduated from Purdue University and is now attending Nursing School.  Mary is a senior at Carmel High School and headed to Purdue University to study Recreation and Tourism.

Being a teacher at the Hasten Hebrew Academy has been Karol’s greatest joy and a wonderful blessing. She has raised many children over the years at the Hasten Hebrew Academy and looks forward to teaching many more students.