Professor Alon Chen
The Biology of Stress and Resilience

Prof. Alon Chen is the 11th President of the Weizmann Institute of Science and is currently serving in his second term. As President, he has launched a series of major initiatives including the Miriam and Aaron Gutwirth Medical School, which will educate Israel’s future leaders in science and medicine. Following the events of October 7, 2023, he started Ogen (Anchors for Resilience), a national trauma prevention and intervention program for Israeli children and youth, where he serves as Chair. The Institute has established flagship research projects in neuroscience, astrophysics, environmental sciences, and artificial intelligence during his term in office. He is an External Member of the Max Planck Society and a member of the Max Planck Senate.

Prof. Chen’s research focus is the neurobiology of stress, particularly the mechanisms by which the brain regulates the response to stressful challenges and how this response is linked to psychiatric disorders. His aims to elucidate the pathways and mechanisms by which stressors are perceived, processed, and transduced into neuroendocrine and behavioral responses under healthy and pathological conditions. His lab has made significant discoveries in the field, including fundamental aspects of the organism’s stress response and actions that link specific stress-related genes, epigenetic mechanisms, and brain circuits with anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, and the metabolic syndrome.