Prof. Maron will take up her position in about six months, at which time she will replace Prof. Gur Elroy, who currently serves as rector and will be appointed at the same time as the next president of the University of Haifa
Prof. Mona Maron was elected (Thursday 11.4.24) by the Senate of the University of Haifa to the rectorship of the university and she will take up her position this coming October. Prof. Maron is a world-renowned researcher in the field of neuroscience and post-trauma and currently serves as the Vice President for Research. In doing so, Prof. Maron became the first Arab member of the academic staff in Israel to be appointed to the position of university rector. "I am grateful for the trust I received from the members of the university senate and look forward to taking up the position. First and foremost, Haifa University is home for me. A house that accepted me into its ranks more than 30 years ago, as an undergraduate student, then as a faculty member in the neurobiology department and now with the position of rector. I pledge to continue to invest my all in my academic home, to continue to promote first and foremost outstanding research and to continue to be a beacon of science and excellence in the heart of the north, promoting a common, genuine and daily existence between members of all religions and denominations in Israel," said Prof. Maron.
As mentioned, Prof. Maron will take up her position in about six months, when she will replace Prof. Gur Elroy, who currently serves as rector and will be appointed at the same time as the next president of the University of Haifa.
"I am happy with the choice of the members of the senate in Mona and I am already waiting impatiently to work together with her for the University of Haifa. The choice of it symbolizes more than anything else the special spirit of the university. Mona was chosen because she is an outstanding researcher, because she is an excellent vice president for research who has promoted our academic excellence, and because the members of the faculty believed that she was the right person to continue to advance the university towards our goals and objectives. And at our university, the right person can be a man or a woman, a Jew or an Arab - it really does not matter and is not important. This is the meaning of our common existence", said Prof. Alroy.
"This is an important day for the University of Haifa and for the entire Israeli society. I am sure that the new leadership of the University of Haifa will lead it to new heights", said the President of the University of Haifa Prof. Ron Rubin.
Prof. Maron researches the neural and molecular basis of anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder and is examining, among other things, the possibility of "erasing" memories of fear, through the silencing of the neural mechanisms that are responsible for forming fear memories in the brain. She completed her three degrees at the University of Haifa and did her post-doctorate in France at the University of Paris XI, in the Laboratory for Learning and Memory Research.
Throughout her academic career, Prof. Maron was a trailblazer and charted a path, for the integration and advancement of women in the fields of natural and life sciences in particular and of the Arab population in key positions in academia in general. She is the first woman from her village Usafia to receive a doctorate degree and the first Arab professor of neuroscience in Israel. She headed the Purple Department of Neurobiology at the University of Haifa and, as mentioned, currently serves as the university's Vice President for Research, in both of these roles she was the first Arab woman. She was a member of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education (VAT), where she was, among other things, the head of the VAT's steering committee for making higher education accessible to the Arab society.
At the same time as her academic activity, Prof. Maroun works a lot to promote higher education among Arab society and especially to increase awareness and encourage young Arab women to turn to the fields of science in general and neuroscience in particular. In this framework, she has participated many times in activities to promote science in Arab schools, is a member of the Al-Maram association, to increase the awareness of Arab students about science issues and more.
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