Joseph Itskovitz - Eldor

Professor Itskovitz-Eldor served as the head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Rambam Medical Center for 22 years, founded the Technion's embryonic stem cell center and is a professor emeritus at the Technion. In addition, Prof. Itskovitz-Eldor initiated the collaboration with James Thomson, of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, which derived the first human embryonic stem cells worldwide, and later in Israel as well.

In the research laboratories headed by Prof. Itskovitz-Eldor, the derivation of embryonic stem cells from a human source and their differentiation into various cell types was researched. Prof. Itskovitz-Eldor has published more than 200 scientific publications, in fields such as embryonic physiology, fertility medicine and pluripotent embryonic stem cells.