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Dr. Berta Strulovici
Director, Israeli National Center for Personalized Medicine
Dr. Berta Strulovici received her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science
from the Department of Hormone Research (Now the Department of Biological
Regulation.) She then conducted postdoctoral research at the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute at Duke University Medical School in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Strulovici has a track record in building and leading outstanding, productive
teams while integrating innovative processes into seamless, successful
enterprises in start-up and large Pharma environments.
Early in her career, Berta joined Tularik as Director, R&D (Founders Goeddel, McKnight, Tjian), a
Biotech company in South San Francisco, dedicated to the discovery and development of
therapeutics based on the modulation of gene expression. At Tularik she established a
multidisciplinary team responsible for the identification and validation of transcription factors as
targets for drug discovery for inflammation, cancer, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases.
At Merck Sharpe and Dohme in North Wales, PA, Dr. Strulovici was Vice President of Basic Research
in charge of building a state-of-the-art Center of Excellence for early drug discovery for Merck
Worldwide. In the 12 years that Berta was at Merck, she and her team were involved in the discovery
of lead compounds that are currently active in the Merck pipeline, including some in clinical trials for
various diseases.
About three years ago, she joined a new start up biotech, iPierian, in the Bay Area as Founding Chief
Technology Officer. At iPierian, she focused the company on applying induced pluripotent stem cell
technology to drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Spinal Muscular Distrophy,
ALS, ans Alzheimer's Disease.
Most recently, Dr. Strulovici undertook a new role as Director of the Israel National Center for
Personalized Medicine at the Weizmann Institute. The Center will apply novel technologies in
genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and high-throughput drug screening to advance personalized
medicine in Israel.
Dr. Berta Strulovici is married to Izu who worked for many years at the Israel Aircraft Industry as a
mechanical engineer. They have 2 children, Orna, who is an M.D. surgeon in the US, and Alexander,
a 2nd year medical student. Berta's hobbies are running, dancing, reading and listening to music.