Symposia Speakers

Prof. Alon Chen is the 11th President of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He assumed the position in December 2019 and is currently serving in his second term. Prof. Chen is Chairman of the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the science literacy arm of the Weizmann Institute, and serves as Chairman of Perach, the national social impact organization. As Weizmann President, he has launched a series of major initiatives including the Miriam and Aaron Gutwirth Medical School, which will educate Israel’s future leaders in science and medicine. Following the events of October 7, 2023, he started Ogen (Anchors for Resilience), a national trauma prevention and intervention program for Israeli children and youth, where he serves as Chair. The Institute has established flagship research projects in neuroscience, astrophysics, environmental sciences, and artificial intelligence during his term in office.

He is a member of the departments of Brain Science and Molecular Neuroscience, and was previously Head of the Department of Neurobiology (since renamed Brain Science) from 2016-2019. He is an External Member of the Max Planck Society and a member of the Max Planck Senate. He was an adjunct Professor at the Medical School of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He was Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, and served as the Head of the Max Planck Society - Weizmann Institute of Science Laboratory for Experimental Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurogenetics.

Born in Israel in 1970, Prof. Chen received a BSc in Biological Studies, with distinction, from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1995, and a PhD from the Weizmann Institute in 2001 (Direct PhD Program, with distinction). During his PhD studies, Prof. Chen received an MBA from Ben-Gurion University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, where he began researching the neurobiological underpinnings of stress. In 2005, he joined the faculty of the Weizmann Institute. 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.

Prof. Chen’s research focus is 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. His aims 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. Using genetic mouse models and human patients, the Chen lab is laying the scientific groundwork for therapeutic interventions to treat stress-related behavioral and physiological disorders.

He is the recipient of both the Rothschild and Fulbright fellowships, and the Alon Fellowship, the most prestigious Israeli fellowship for scientists returning to Israel. He received the Ben-Gurion Award, bestowed on individuals for their contributions to Ben-Gurion University, the community, and the Negev, in 2022.

Prof. Chen is married to Tali with two sons, Gal and Dan, and has a keen interest in science education.