He was raised in the Jerusalem Beit HaKerem neighborhood and graduated from the Hebrew University Secondary School.

[1] In 2001, he founded MSR - The Israel Center for Medical Simulation, and developed it as a leading institute in its field.

He served as a member of a team developing simulation based tests for foreign medical graduated applying for jobs in the US.

The company was founded by veteran Israeli Airforce pilots to develop medical simulation systems.

As director of the center he initiated and headed a simulation based training program for the medical school.

The medical simulation center, known locally and internationally as "MSR", was established in 2001, under Ziv's direction and based on his vision.

[10] Ziv served on the founding editorial board of the Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH).