Born in Rehovot, Prof. Michal Neeman received a BSc in chemistry and biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her MSc and PhD degrees in chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science. She did her postdoctoral research in the Life Sciences Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory (New Mexico), where she conducted research utilizing nuclear magnetic resonance micro-imaging. In 1991, she returned to the Weizmann Institute, where she joined the Department of Hormone Research (now the Department of Biological Regulation). From 2009 until the end of 2014 when she became Vice President of the Institute, Prof. Neeman served as the Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Director of the Clore Center for Biological Physics. She is currently the incumbent of the Helen and Morris Mauerberger Chair of Immunology.
Prof. Neeman’s research focuses on the mechanisms that regulate angiogenesis, using magnetic resonance and optical imaging. She is particularly interested in ovarian cancer and has demonstrated that the hormonal changes that accompany menopause indirectly promote the growth of dormant tumors and the spread of ovarian cancer by inducing the growth of blood vessels that nourish the tumors. She pioneered a method for tracking blood and lymphatic vessels to help scientists better understand how to suppress vessel growth and prolong tumor dormancy, thereby increasing survival in individuals with ovarian cancer.
Prof. Neeman received the 1998 Morris L. Levinson Prize in Biology, the 1999 Lindner Prize of the Israel Endocrine Society, the Fellow Award from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, and the Abisch-Frenkel Prize for Excellence in Life Sciences. She was elected to the Board of Trustees of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in 2001 and as a Fellow of the European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB) in 2013.
She and her spouse, Amit, live in the village of Mazkeret Batya, where they raise their three sons, two dogs, and a family vineyard.