Glen Pridham
“Zuckerman scholars have a choice to conduct their postdoctoral research anywhere in the world. Israel’s cutting-edge research, culture and even great weather continue to draw postdocs in pursuit of excellence within Israel’s world-class research institutions.”
On Research: For my PhD on health-related aging problems I worked in the physics faculty. The essential premise was to use physics-style mathematical and data modelling and apply it to problems related to human aging. I wanted to continue using this model while still researching problems, such as frailty, that are related to aging. Based on feedback I received from referees and conferences, it was clear that I would have to add biology to the physics tools I was using to be successful in the study of aging.
On Expertise: To my knowledge, nobody combines physics, aging and biology better than Prof. Uri Alon at Weizmann Institute of Science. He is the only person I’ve ever heard speak fluently and with expertise on both biology and physics-style mathematics.
On Israel: I came to Israel specifically to learn from Uri. Not everybody gets to work with him. Fortunately, there are a number of other perks to being in Israel: a strong sense of community that extends to the scientific community. This makes it easy to collaborate, or to simply get help from a local expert.
Israel is a small country with an outsized science community. It also has a strong financial-tech industry. I recently met with an app developer interested in collaborating to use real-time gait (walking) monitoring via smartphones to answer fundamental questions about the aging process.
Israel is an exciting, stimulating place. This country is swimming in “carpe diem.” That attitude is something I’d like to take back with me when I eventually leave.
Favorite thing about Israel: Probably the weather, which is sunny and warm year-round (excluding 2-3 weeks in the winter). There’s a certain permanent vacation element to living here because of the great weather, beaches, and attractions. Also the people, who are broadly very tolerant, open and sociable.