Israeli Advisors
Professor Yehudit Bergman
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Yehudit Bergman is a Full Professor at the Hebrew University Medical School in
Jerusalem where she holds The Dr. Emanuel Rubin Chair in Medical Science. Dr. Bergman studied for her PhD degree at the Weizmann Institute of Science, spent her post gradual work at Stanford University with Dr. Ronald Levy, and at MIT with Dr. David Baltimore. Dr. Bergman chaired the Department of Experimental Medicine and Cancer Research, the Developmental Biology Programme, and the Faculty of Medicine Search Committee. She was an elected representative of the medical school to the Hebrew University senate and was a member of the University’s standing committee. Dr. Bergman is a member of EMBO, Academia Europaea and a recipient of The Helmholtz International Fellow Award, and The TEVA Award for Excellence in Science. Dr. Bergman sees as one of her goals to inspire young students and researchers. She has received the Faculty of Medicine Award for excellence in teaching numerous times and was awarded by the rector as an excellent teacher and outstanding investigator. Dr. Bergman has trained graduate and post-graduate students. Several of her students have taken up positions as principal investigators worldwide. Bergman’s current scientific interest is in understanding the mechanistic basis for epigenetic regulation; both during normal development as well as in cancer. Our research focuses on two major topics: the role of epigenetics in the development of the immune system, and its involvement in stem cells, inflammation and cancer.
Professor Ohad Birk
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Ohad Birk, Foulkes Fellow (1992) and also recipient of the Senta Foulkes Research Prize (2000), is a Professor of Human Genetics at Ben Gurion University (BGU). Combining full time clinical work and research, he heads both the Genetics Institute at Soroka Medical Center and the Morris Kahn Laboratory of Human Genetics at BGU, where he serves also as Director of the National Institute for Biotechnology of the Negev. Birk’s research group identified the molecular basis of more than 30 human diseases, including some of the most prevalent hereditary diseases in Arabs and in Sephardic Jews, two of which are named after him. The Birk lab goes beyond the genetics, deciphering molecular mechanisms of diseases through molecular, biochemical and developmental studies in-vitro, in patient-derived stem cells, and in various model systems, from Drosophila to mice. Aside from elucidating molecular mechanisms of normal and abnormal human function and development, Birk also implements the findings in massive carrier tests for the severe diseases deciphered, conducive to ~30% reduction in infant mortality rate in the Bedouin community. In Sephardic Jews, the Birk group deciphered the molecular basis of two of the most common severe hereditary diseases, progressive cerebello cerebral atrophy (PCCA) and PCCA2, enabling massive carrier testing and near-eradication of those diseases. Birk did his MD studies at Tel Aviv University followed by a PhD with Irun Cohen at the Weizmann Institute, demonstrating hsp60 as an autoantigen in type 1 diabetes. He then did a residency in pediatrics at Sheba Medical Center followed by training in clinical genetics and post-doctoral training at the NIH, elucidating LHX9 as a key factor in gonad formation.
[Professor Birk’s late mother, Professor Yehudith Birk, was formerly Chair of the Israeli Advisory Panel.]
Professor Lior Gepstein
Technion
Prof. Lior Gepstein graduated his MD studies at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel and conducted his PhD thesis at the same Institute. During this period he was involved in the development of a three-dimensional electroanatomical mapping technique (CARTO system), which became the state-of-the-art technology for the treatment of complex cardiac arrhythmias. Dr. Gepstein completed his residency in internal medicine and Cardiology fellowship at Rambam Health Care Campus and fellowship in Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
Currently, he holds the position of Professor of Physiology and Medicine (Cardiology) at the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine and holds the Edna and Jonathan Sohnis Chair in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. He also serves as an attending electrophysiologist specialist at Rambam. More recently, he was appointed as the Director of the Cardiology Department at Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa. Prof. Gepstein's research activities focus on the areas of basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology, stem cell biology, studying of inherited cardiac disorders, and establishment of novel gene and cell-based strategies for the treatment of different cardiac disorders. Dr. Gepstein was awarded a number of prestigious awards for his achievements in cardiology including the American College of Cardiology Douglas P. Zipes distinguished award, the European Society of Cardiology outstanding research achievement award and the Mirowski award from the Israel Cardiology Society. More recently he was elected to the Israeli Young Academy of Science.
Professor Gideon Rechavi (Chair)
Tel Aviv University
Gideon Rechavi received an MD from Tel Aviv University in 1981 and a PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is board certified in Hematology, Pediatrics, and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology. He is Professor of Hematology and holds the Djerassi Chair in Oncology, Tel Aviv University. He served as head of the Division of Hematology, Sackler School of Medicine and as head of the Tel Aviv University Cancer Biology Research Center. In 1992 he was appointed head of the Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department at the Sheba Medical Center and in 1999 he established the Sheba Cancer Genomics Unit, a leading Israeli center for medical genomics. In 2003 he established the Sheba Cancer Research Center, which he heads and from 2016 he heads the Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine. His main research interests are RNA epigenetics, transposable genetic elements and cancer genomics with special emphasis on pediatric cancer. In recent years, his laboratory became a leading facility for genomic analysis where genes involved in a variety of monogenic diseases are identified. His group is now involved in the study of “orphan” genetic diseases aiming at the development of individualized genetic therapy. He has published 500 articles in the most prestigious journals including Nature, Cell, Science, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and many more. He has been awarded numerous prizes and research grants including the EMET prize for Genetics and an ERC Advanced Grant. He was selected for the Ernest and Bonnie Beutler Research Program of Excellence in Genomic Medicine. Rechavi is a member of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences and a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the Israel Prize in Medical Research in 2020.
Professor Yosef Shiloh
Tel Aviv University
Prof. Yosef Shiloh is Myers Professor of Cancer Genetics and a Research Professor of the Israel Cancer Research Fund, at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. He obtained his B.Sc. degree at the Technion in Haifa, and Ph.D. in Human Genetics at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He trained further at Harvard Medical School, the University of Michigan, New York University Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and was a Fogarty Fellow at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He is a member of The Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities and won the 2005 EMET Prize in Life Sciences, the 2011 American Association of Cancer Research G.H.A. Clowes Award, the 2011 Israel Prize in Life Sciences and the 2015 Olav Thon Prize in Natural Sciences and Medicine (Oslo, Norway). He has dedicated most of his scientific career to understanding the genomic instability syndrome, ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T). He began his work on A-T while working on his Ph.D. thesis and this quest culminated in 1995 in the identification of the responsible gene, ATM, in his lab. The lab has since been studying the function and mode of action of the ATM gene product – the ATM protein and its many roles in cellular metabolism, and has recently returned to investigation of the molecular pathology of A-T. Another field of interest in the lab is the role of DNA damage in the aging process. In addition to his research, he devotes considerable time to giving popular scientific lectures to the general public and high school students on the medical, social and ethical implications of the genome revolution and its effect on cancer research and therapy. He is married to Prof. Shoshana Shiloh, Professor of Psychology at Tel Aviv University. Their son, Amir is an Internet content developer and their daughter, Ruthy, is a postdoctoral fellow in cell biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Professor Ravid Straussman
Weizmann Institute of Science
Ravid Straussman, Foulkes Fellow (1999), is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute. He completed his BSc studies at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School (summa cum laude) and earned his MSc in Medical Biochemistry. He then graduated the MD/PhD program of Hadassah Medical School, followed by an MD internship. After completing a first post-doc training period at the lab of Dr. Howard Cedar at the Hebrew University, he joined the lab of Dr. Todd Golub at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT for a second postdoc training period where he studied the effects of the tumor microenvironment on chemoresistance. In 2013 he joined the Weizmann Institute as a Principal Investigator. The Straussman lab studies different aspects of the tumor microenvironment with a special focus on the tumor microbiome (bacteria and fungi). The lab studies how non-cancer components in the tumor microenvironment affect the response of cancer cells to cytotoxic, targeted, and immune anti-cancer therapies. The lab also strives to translate its findings into real-world clinical applications that benefit cancer patients.
Straussman lab web site: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/mcb/Straussman/home
Straussman lab twitter: @StraussmanR
Administrative Support – Israel
Yael Ben Haim
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Yael Ben Haim was born in Jerusalem and is a mother to her two sons. Yael graduated from Tel Aviv University in Israel, where she gained her Ph.D in microbiology and her M.Sc. in Ecology and Environmental studies. Her B.Sc. was in Agriculture from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In her M.Sc. and Ph.D she studied bacterial diseases of corals and during her Ph.D she discovered a novel bacterial pathogen (Vibrio corallilyticus) that is a causative agent of bleaching in reef corals, and which has become a model for temperature-regulated bacterial pathogens. She conducted a Post-Doc in the University of California San Diego and studied their deep-sea bacteria. After her graduation Yael worked in the Ministry of Health as an assessor of biological pharmaceuticals and worked for the Ministry of Environment in the Air quality division. She also worked as a QA Manager and Regulation Manager in private biotechnology companies. Yael is a jeweller by hobby and has her own metalsmith studio at home; she also loves art and nature.