Board of directors

Prof. Alon Chen

Prof. Alon Chen assumed the position of the 11th president of the Weizmann Institute of Science on Dec. 1, 2019. He was Head of the Department of Neurobiology from 2016-2019. He was also Managing Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany and served as the Head of the Max Planck Society - Weizmann Institute of Science Laboratory for Experimental Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurogenetics. He is an adjunct Professor at the Medical School of the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich.
Born in Israel in 1970, Prof. Chen received a BSc in Biological Studies, with distinction, from Ben-Gurion University in 1995, and a PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2001 (Direct PhD Program, with distinction). During his PhD studies, Prof. Chen also received an MBA from Ben-Gurion University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, where he started researching stress. In 2005, he joined the faculty of the Weizmann Institute, in the Department of Neurobiology. At the Weizmann Institute, he is the incumbent of the Vera and John Schwartz Professorial Chair in Neurobiology.
Prof. Chen’s research focuses on the neurobiology of stress, particularly the mechanisms by which the brain regulates the response to stressful challenges and how this response is linked to psychiatric disorders. The collective long-term goal of his research is to elucidate the pathways and mechanisms by which stressors are perceived, processed, and transduced into neuroendocrine and behavioral responses under healthy and pathological conditions.
His lab has made significant discoveries in the field, including fundamental aspects of the organism’s stress response and actions that link specific stress-related genes, epigenetic mechanisms, and brain circuits with anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, and the metabolic syndrome. Prof. Chen and his team use both genetic mouse models and human patients to ultimately create the scientific groundwork for therapeutic interventions to treat stress-related behavioral and physiological disorders.
Over the years in his various scientific and administrative leadership roles, Prof. Chen has worked extensively with scientific boards, executive boards, elected officials, alumni, donors, and the community at large, to advance the mission of the institutions in which he is involved. On many occasions, Prof. Chen has presented their visions, missions, and values to internal and external stakeholders. He has also been responsible for approving and overseeing institutional and departmental budgets and for securing external funding support. Prof. Chen is known for his excellent communication and interpersonal skills, strong leadership aptitude, and the ability to identify opportunities and to convert challenges into innovative solutions.
He is the recipient of both the Rothschild and Fulbright fellowships. Upon his joining the Weizmann Institute faculty, he received the Alon Fellowship, the most prestigious Israeli fellowship for returning scientists.
Prof. Chen is married with two children and has a keen interest in science education .

Prof. Irit Sagi

VP for Innovation & Technology Transfer

Born in Israel, Prof. Irit Sagi attended university in Washington, DC, receiving a BSc degree in Physical Chemistry from American University (1988), and PhD degree in biophysics/bioinorganics from Georgetown University (1992). She returned to The Weizmann Institute to perform postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. Ada Yonath, laureate of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Prof. Sagi continued her postdoctoral studies at the Max-Planck Institute in Berlin, and joined the faculty of Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute in 1998. Between 2005-2006 she spent a sabbatical as a visiting professor at Harvard University and at Novartis research institute, USA. She became the dean of the Feinberg Graduate School in 2014 and is the incumbent of the Maurizio Pontecorvo Professorial Chair. In December, 2019, she finished her term as dean and assume the position of Vice President for Technology Transfer.

Prof. Irit Sagi is developing and applying unique, multidisciplinary and biophysical approaches to investigate tissue and extracellular remodeling molecular processes. Merging together real-time spectroscopic and molecular imaging approaches, she was the first to reveal the complex dynamic molecular nature of extracellular remodeling enzymes including matrix metalloproteinases and lysyl oxidases (MMPs and LOX), a group of human enzymes linked to, developmental biology, cancer, inflammation, fibrosis and infectious diseases. Insights derived from these studies led her to design a new class of inhibitory antibodies that thwart the negative action of these enzymes. These prototype antibodies are currently being developed for clinical use in inflammatory, and cancer diseases by a start company, Mabtrix ltd. Prof. Sagi continues to develop novel integrated experimental tools tailored to decipher the extracellular matrix molecular remodeling code at near atomic resolution in healthy and diseased tissues. Her unique biophysical approach is used to decipher molecular mechanisms of dysregulated tissue proteolysis/remodeling and to develop a new generation of safe and effective drugs and in vivo molecular modulators. Recently, she demonstrtaed a novel use for proteases in promoting and increasing the rate of embryo implantation in mammals. This discovery led her to establish a new startup company, NanoCell, aiming at developing this technology in Livestock and human. Prof. Sagi is the incumbent of the Maurizio Pontecorvo Professorial Chair. She has more than 200 publications in peer reviewed scientific journals and editor of two books. Prof. Sagi earned the Landau Prize of Mifal Hapais for Biochemistry in 2017 and the Juludan Prize for outstanding research projects in the exact sciences and advanced medicinal technologies in 2013. In 2006, she was named Inventor of the Year by the Weiznmann Institute’s Yeda Ltd. Three years prior, she was awarded the Weizmann Institute Scientific Council Prize for Chemistry, and in 2000, she received the Jakubskind-Cymerman Research Prize. Fron 2009-20014 she has been the president of the Israel Biophysical Society and she is currently the president of the Israel Matrix Biology Society. Prof. Sagi is a member of the International Board of Directors of Future Fund for promoting Israel-Germany relations and she is a member of the UK Israel Science Council.

Mr. Martin Gerstel

Mr. Shimshon Harel

Mr. Israel Makov

Mr. Steven Romick

Prof. Tony Futerman

Prof. Zvi Artstein

Mr. David Assia

Mr. Yoav Waizer

Avishay Gal-Yam Ph.D.

Prof. David Mirelman

Born in Argentina in 1938, David Mirelman emigrated with his family to Israel in 1949. He received his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1968, and then spent two years as a Research Associate at Tufts University Medical School in Boston. In 1970, Prof. Mirelman returned to Israel, where he joined the staff of the Weizmann Institute's Department of Biophysics (now Biological Chemistry). He was appointed Associate Professor with tenure in 1976, and Full Professor in 1985. Sabbaticals include periods at the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, and as a Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1987, Prof. Mirelman was appointed Chairman of the Board of YEDA Research and Development Company, Ltd., which commercializes the inventions of Weizmann Institute scientists. In 1993, when the post of Vice-President for Technology Transfer was established, he was nominated to be in charge of all aspects of technology transfer of Institute research, in addition to serving as Chairman of Yeda. At the end of 1998, he completed his term of office in both these posts, returned to his laboratory full-time, and at the same time was appointed to serve as Dean of the Institute’s Faculty of Biochemistry, a post he held until January, 2004. He also headed the Weizmann Institute’s Y. Leon Benoziyo Institute for Molecular Medicine until January, 2004.

Prof. Mirelman's research interests lie in the field of molecular biology, within which he is especially interested in the interactions between microbial pathogens and mucosal cells in the human intestinal tract. His studies of the molecular biology of the amoeba parasite (Entamoeba histolytica) are directed towards understanding the molecular mechanisms of virulence, differentiating between pathogenic and non-pathogenic forms, and investigating the host response and effects of the associated microbial flora. Prof. Mirelman has also developed a novel delivery system for a potent anti-amoebic drug, and is currently attempting to develop a vaccine using a genetically modified and non-virulent amoeba. In recent years, he has also become interested in the mode of action of allicin, the biologically active molecule of garlic, and its application against a number of human diseases, including cancer. Prof. Mirelman has published over 180 scientific publications in international journals, and is the recipient of a number of research prizes. He is the incumbent of the Besen-Brender Professorial Chair of Microbiology and Parasitology.

Yeda Research and Development