The Azrieli Fellows Program is delighted to share the latest accomplishments of its Fellows across the Graduate Studies, International Postdoctoral, and Early Career Faculty tracks. These achievements—including faculty appointments, promotions, prestigious postdoctoral positions, academic awards, and leadership roles in industry—highlight the exceptional calibre of our Fellows and their growing impact within academia and beyond. We congratulate them warmly and wish them continued success in their professional journeys.
New Faculty Appointments
Shraga Bick (2019–2020 Graduate Studies Fellow) appointed to the Department of Comparative Religion at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, starting July 2025.
Milica Denić (2022–2023 International Postdoctoral Fellow) accepted a senior lecturer (tenured) position in Linguistics at the University of Geneva.
Shahar Dery (2018–2019 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Bar-Ilan University.
Michal Erlich (2018–2019 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed associate professor and director at the Jindal India Institute, O.P. Jindal Global University.
Michal Friedman (2018–2019 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed assistant professor on the tenure track at ETH Zurich, Switzerland (since December 2024).
Daphne Inbar (2020–2021 Graduate Studies Fellow) appointed visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine (since July 2024).
Michal Levo (2011–2012 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, with her lab officially opening in January 2025.
Ido Levin (2016–2017 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed assistant professor at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver), a joint position in Chemistry and Mathematics (starting August 2025).
Eytan Mann (2021–2022 Graduate Studies Fellow) appointed assistant professor in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft, Netherlands, starting September 2024.
Deborah Marciano (2015–2016 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed assistant professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Psychology & Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality.
Michal Rabani (2018–2019 Early Career Faculty Fellow) was appointed assistant professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at the Silberman Institute of Life Sciences.
Wisam Sedawi (2015–2016 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed research investigator at the University of Michigan, focusing on STEM education for minoritized students and families.
Haran Sened (2017–2018 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed senior lecturer at the University of Haifa School of Therapy, Counselling, and Human Development.
Giddon Ticotsky (2021–2022 Early Career Faculty Fellow) was named an Aron Rodrigue International Visitor at the Stanford Humanities Center (2025).
Yonatan Rum Zemet (2015–2016 Graduate Studies Fellow) joined the Hebrew University of Jerusalem School of Education as a tenure-track faculty member (July 2023).
Faculty Promotions
Noa Keidar (2020-2021 International Postdoctoral Fellow) was promoted to senior lecturer at Tel Aviv University’s Sociology and Anthropology Department.
Ahmad Masarwa (2016-2017 Early Career Faculty Fellow) was promoted to associate professor in the Institute of Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in July 2023.
Rina Rosenzweig (2015-2016 Early Career Faculty Fellow) was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Structural Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Postdoctoral Positions
Raphaël Aguillon (2021-2022 International Postdoctoral Fellow) was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in Paris at the Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology.
Eliran Arazi (2017-2018 Graduate Studies Fellow) is starting a postdoctoral contract with CNRS in France and received the ISF Scholarship for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Cambridge University.
Essam Assali (2018-2019 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed postdoctoral associate in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, affiliated with the Kibbey Lab, beginning in March 2024.
Ambreen Ben-Shmuel (2021-2022 Graduate Studies Fellow) was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan and the Martin Buber Society Fellowship in Israel.
Yoav Charpak-Amikam (2018-2019 Graduate Studies Fellow) begins a Clinical Residency in Anesthesiology at Hadassah Ein-Kerem Medical Center and is part of “Nativ,” a physician-scientist program.
Elad Horn (2022-2023 Graduate Studies Fellow) is the Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship winner and plans to spend the next year at MIT.
Jonathan Jeffet (2018-2019 Graduate Studies Fellow) secured a postdoctoral position at EPFL, Switzerland, starting September 2025.
Yoni Livneh (2020–2021 Graduate Studies Fellow) was accepted to a postdoctoral program at Tel Aviv University starting fall 2025; the fellowship is jointly funded by the School of Cultural Studies, the Kipp Center for the Study of Hebrew Literature and Culture, and the Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.
Juan Pablo Unfried (2021-2022 International Postdoctoral Fellow) was appointed senior postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Regulation at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Irene Unterman (2022-2023 Graduate Studies Fellow) was accepted into the Nativ physician-scientist training program at Hadassah Medical Center, including a 500,000 NIS research grant and protected research time.
Academic Awards
Dana Azani (2024-2025 Graduate Studies Fellow) won the 2025 Alonso Award for Excellence in Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy.
Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal (2019-2020 Early Career Faculty Fellow) received the Sieratzki Prize for Advanced Neuroscience (2024).
Sagi Ben-Ami (2020-2021 Early Career Faculty Fellow) received a VATAT grant for a new observatory at Neot Semadar in the Negev.
Uri Ben-David (2019-2020 Faculty Early Career Fellow) is the recipient of the 2025 Schmidt Science Polymath Award.
Yoav Goldstein (2023–2025 Graduate Studies Fellow) received the Alix De Rothschild Fellowship Program for Doctoral Students in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Leore Heim (2018-2019 Graduate Studies Fellow) received the Teva BioInnovators Fellowship (2024-2025).
Deborah Marciano (2015–2016 Graduate Studies Fellow) is the recipient of the Golda Meir Fellowship.
Mor Nitzan (2012-2013 Graduate Studies Fellow) received the EMBO Young Investigator Award.
Boglárka Nyúl (2023-2024 International Postdoctoral Fellow) was awarded the Marie Curie Fellowship.
Benjamin Palmer (2019-2020) is a 2025 Laureate of the Prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel.
Roni Porat (2020-2021 Faculty Early Career Fellow) is the HFG Distinguished Scholar Award winner.
Ziv Shulman (2015-2016 Faculty Early Career Fellow) is the recipient of the Rappaport Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Research. (2025).
Leadership Positions in Industry
Liran Ben-Moshe (2014-2015 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed to the Fluvial Geomorphology Lab Manager at the Geological Survey of Israel, focusing on flood forecasting and geomorphological research.
Yehuda Brody (2008-2009 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed Senior Computational Biologist Researcher at OncoHost R&D, working on personalized cancer treatment.
Yonatan Katzenelenbogen (2021-2022 Graduate Studies Fellow) was promoted to Head of Drug Discovery at Protai, an AI-powered drug discovery startup, in April 2025.
Ohad Manor (2009-2010 Graduate Studies Fellow) was promoted to Vice President of Computational Precision Health at Thorne, a wellness company, overseeing data science and computational biology initiatives.
Tomer Peleg (2012-2013 Graduate Studies Fellow) was appointed algorithm team leader at Samsung Israel R&D Center, specializing in deep learning, computer vision, and signal processing.
Yulia Sapir-Lekhovitser (2011-2012 Graduate Studies Fellow) is the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Fesarius Therapeutics Inc., leading the development of DermiSphere™, which received FDA clearance in early 2025.
