BGU has announced that the following individuals will receive awards this coming Tuesday evening during this year’s 43rd Board of Governors Meeting:
Honorary Doctorate Recipients:
Prof. Patrick Aebischer, Switzerland – is the President of Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne, one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the Swiss Academies of Medical Sciences and Engineering Sciences. A professor of Neurosciences and head of the Neurodegenerative Disease Laboratory at the EPL, he has significantly expanded the Institute since assuming its presidency in 2000. Aebischer has also founded three biotechnology companies: Amazentis SA, Modex Therapeutiques Inc. and CytoTherapeutics Inc.
Cherie Blair CBE, UK – is a Queen’s Counsel and Recorder. She established the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women to advance female entrepreneurs as an avenue to empowerment. The foundation supports women in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and provides them with training and funding to increase women’s security and their voice in tackling injustice. She has also been active on the issues of breast cancer, children from disadvantaged communities and prison reform. Blair was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to women's issues and charity. In 2000, she was one of the founding partners of Matrix Chambers, which was created to focus on human rights law. She is married to Tony Blair, former UK prime minister and current Quartet Envoy to the Middle East.
Prof. Joshua Blau, Israel – is one of the world’s foremost scholars on medieval Judeo-Arabic. The incumbent of the Max Schloessinger Professor Emeritus of Arabic Language at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he was also the third President of the Academy of the Hebrew Language from 1981-1993. The nonagenarian is a recipient of the Israel Prize and a number of awards from European countries and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences. He has published widely on the Hebrew and Arabic languages, both modern and medieval.
Prof. Mario Capecchi, USA, - is the 2007 Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine. He is best known for his pioneering work on the development of gene targeting in mouse embryo-derived stem (ES) cells. This technology allows scientists to create mice with mutations in any desired gene allowing scientists to choose both which gene to mutate and how to mutate it. The researcher has virtually complete freedom on how to manipulate the DNA sequences in the genome of living mice, allowing scientists to evaluate in detail the function of any gene during the development or post-developmental phase of the mouse. Capecchi is Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics and Biology at the University of Utah and its School of Medicine. He is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Ruth Flinkman-Marandy, USA - is president of Flinkman Management, Inc., a family-owned real estate management company in Santa Monica, California. In addition to being a national vice president on the board of American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU), she was elected to BGU’s Board of Governors in May 2012. Flinkman-Marandy has also been the campaign chair for AABGU’s Southwest Region for several years. She first became involved with BGU more than 30 years ago. A member of BGU’s Ben-Gurion Society, Flinkman-Marandy has been a strong supporter of the University’s Nano in the Negev initiative for many years, and has also supported student scholarships. Most recently, Ruth and her husband, Ben Marandy, pledged a significant amount to support a new atom chip and quantum optics research and development facility for the University’s Nano Fabrication Center. She and her husband reside in Century City, California. She has four children, three grandchildren and three step-children.
Prof. Robert Langer, USA – is the most cited engineer in history. He is one of only three Americans to have been awarded the US National Medal of Science and the US National Medal of Technology and Innovation in February of this year. He is also a past recipient of the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers, and the Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology prize. He is a 2013 recipient of the Wolf Prize. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, The US National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, one of the few to be elected to all three and the youngest in history to have been so honored. Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, where he has been teaching since 1977. He has written more than 1,190 articles and has 810 issued and pending patents worldwide, which have been issued to over 250 companies. The biomedical engineer has developed novel drug delivery systems including time delayed ones, and polymers that help prevent tumors from recruiting blood vessels, among many other systems. He is the co-founder of InVivo Therapeutics Corporation, which develops technologies to treat spinal cord injuries.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Bertie Lubner, South Africa – was asked to become the president of the South African Associates of BGU in 1975 by second president of BGU Joseph Tekoa, which began a relationship with the University that has been mutually satisfying for nearly 40 years. A successful businessman, Lubner has always made philanthropy an important part of his life and inculcated that belief in his children as well. Both in South Africa and in Israel, he and his family have supported causes close to their heart, most notably children, special needs, and research that would benefit them.In South Africa, Lubner has been at the forefront of promoting South African business and business opportunities for South Africans for decades. He has been awarded South Africa’s highest honor, The Order of Meritorious Special Service for his contribution to the country’s economy.
As a philanthropist, he founded, with the late Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris, Afrika Tikkun which looks after 18,000 beneficiaries in six townships. He and his brother Ronnie founded The Field Band Foundation which now supports 42 bands, incorporating 6,000 children. The Lubner Family set up the Lubner Kibbutz for mentally challenged adults. Bertie is especially proud that his children have continued the philanthropic tradition he and his brother began.
At BGU, always encouraging the application of academic study to the real world, he sponsors The Lubner Family Annual Prize for Excellence in Innovation and Research Endowment Fund, a prize for the student who excels in bringing real humanitarian or commercial value from their studies and research. He has also endowed the Lubner Family Chair in Child Health and Development at Soroka University Medical Center. The Lubner Prize for Community Service embodies the values of the family.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1987. His name graces the Founders Wall at BGU and he is a member of the Ben-Gurion Society.
