Prof. Arie Schachner was born in Poland and immigrated to Israel at the age of 10.  He served in the Israel Defense Forces with the rank of Major.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University in 1969.

Prof. Schachner began his career in cardiothoracic surgery with a residency at Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva, Israel.  He went on to fellowships in adult and pediatric cardiovascular surgery at State University of New York in Buffalo, New York and was certified by the Israel Board of Specialists in 1975.

In 1991, Prof. Schachner founded the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Edith Wolfson Medical Center (WMC) in Holon, Israel.  He led the department until his retirement in June 2007 and co-founded the Save a Child's Heart foundation (SACH) together with Dr. Ami Cohen and Dr. Moshe Mashiach.

Since 1974, Prof. Schachner has been part of the faculty of the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. 

Prof. Schachner is a member of numerous professional societies including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (ISMICS) and he is on the Scientific Council of the Israel Medical Association.  He is currently President of SACH.

Prof. Schachner has many professional business interests and serves on the Board of Directors (BODs) of various industrial companies.  He has a vast experience in biotechnical start-ups and has served as advisor to many companies.

Prof. Schachner has had many scientific articles published in professional journals.