Prof. Mandel is a graduate of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at the Rambam Medical Center and a Fellowship in clinical and biochemical genetics at the Hayward Genetics Center, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans. Dr. Mandel is Head of the Unit of Inherited Metabolic Disorders at the Meyer Children's Hospital, a unique clinical, scientific and academic center. This Unit, which is the reference center for the Northern Israeli population (serving approx. 1,500,000 people), includes a patient clinic and a biochemical-molecular laboratory dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, and research of inborn errors of metabolism.

Dr. Mandel's main research interest is the study of the biochemical and molecular bases of genetic disorders among the population in Northern Israel, and she has discovered new disorders in this field. At present the Unit of Inherited Metabolic Disorders is the center in Israel for the diagnosis of, and enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease (glycogen storage disease type II).