First Things First with Lior Lobel

“It feels great to come back and already have an honorary title of Zuckerman Faculty Scholar,” says Dr. Lior Lobel, who returned to Israel in February 2022 after six years at Harvard University’s  T.H. Chan School of Public Health.  He joined Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Life Sciences, where he was given a brand-new lab.  With a few adjustments, he was able to enter the lab in June, and has already begun running experiments.

Being in a very competitive field, Dr. Lobel says that having PhDs and graduate students in his lab is different from what he experienced in the US.  “There is great science being done in Israel.  The nice thing for a PI here is that we have more control, as opposed to a lab in the US. Here you guide the students and have much more control and also need to provide more training.”  He also doesn’t see a big difference in the level of equipment between the US and Israel, since “Zuckerman labs here are well-funded.”

“I feel privileged that in interacting with the university faculty as a Zuckerman Faculty Scholar brings a kind of achievement and allows me to conduct my research with peace of mind.”  Dr. Lobel is looking forward to networking and meeting the rest of the scholars in person after doing so on ZOOM. “There is nothing greater then meeting your colleagues face to face, something we all missed during the pandemic”