Prof. Kashtan was born in Tel Aviv in1956. He graduated the Sackler School of Medicine at the Tel-Aviv University in 1980 and subsequently he served as a military doctor. He completed surgical residency in 1992 at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. During his residency he did a two-year research fellowship and a Master Degree in medical sciences at the Ontario Cancer Institute and the University of Toronto, Canada. From 1992 to 2003 he was a senior surgeon and a deputy chief at the Tel-Aviv Medical Center and established a unit for esophageal surgery. From 2003 to 2010, Prof. Kashtan was the Head of Department of Surgery at Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel and associate professor of surgery at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Since 2010, Prof. Kashtan is the Head of Division of Surgery at Rabin Medical Center, Petach-Tiqva. He is a full professor of surgery and the head of the Department of Surgery at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University. Since 2019, Prof. Kashtan is the chairperson of the Scientific Council of the Israeli Medical Association who is responsible for all medical residencies in Israel. Prof. Kashtan is specializing in surgical oncology and foregut surgery. He is a member of the Israeli Cancer Association, American Society of Surgical Oncology; European Society of Surgical Oncology; European Association of Endoscopic Surgery; European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. He is the author of more than 100 publications. Prof. Kashtan had founded two professional societies in Israel: The Israeli Society for Foregut Surgery and The Israeli Society for Geriatric Surgery.