Prof. Alon Chen, President of the Weizmann Institute of Science, has been awarded the 2022 Bennett Family Award for Collaboration in the Science of Wellness, along with Juan de Pablo, the Executive Vice President for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories, and Global Initiatives, and the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. Each year, the Bennett Family Award will recognize individuals engaged in collaborative research, merging science and wellness for the advancement of human health.
The inaugural award was bestowed this year by philanthropist and global wellness advocate, Bija Bennett, at the 2022 Global Wellness Summit in Tel Aviv, October 31 through November 3. The Summit is an international meeting of leaders and visionaries who positively impact and shape the future of the global wellness industry.
“A new vision of science and wellness is emerging that addresses the whole person in multiple interconnected biological, behavioral, social and environmental areas,” said Bennett, a life-long champion of mental health awareness, of the mind-body connection, and of scientific collaboration.
“Scientific research partnerships that go beyond the disease process can help our contemporary world learn how to restore health, promote resilience, and prevent diseases across a lifespan,” explained Bennett, who is president of the Bennett Family Foundation. “This new award honors cutting-edge researchers in the science of wellness like Juan and Alon, who have demonstrated the power of scientific collaboration to advance solutions for health and wellbeing globally.”
The collaboration between Weizmann and the University of Chicago began with the Marshall and Arlene Bennett Family Research Program. It was established in 2011 by Bija Bennett’s parents, the late Marshall and Arlene Bennett, and initiated in the 2020-2021 academic year. Every year, a member of the faculty from each institution is awarded funding to support their collaborative research.
“The Weizmann Institute has a long history of international collaborations that have inspired scientists to make a collective impact on global challenges,” said Chen. “We look forward to continue to partner with the University of Chicago to combine our strengths.”
“It’s now my turn to carry this work forward,” Bennett said at the Summit. “I wish to honor the spirit of [my parents’] legacy – and carry their work forward – by inaugurating a new award – a joint initiative with the Global Wellness Summit – that acknowledges the power of collaboration linking science and wellness.”
Prof. Chen is a neuroscientist, and before becoming the 11th President of the Weizmann Institute, he was head of the Department of Neurobiology (since renamed Department of Brain Sciences) from 2016-2019. Chen’s research focuses on 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 lab has made significant discoveries, including fundamental aspects of the 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.
“I am honored to receive this award,” said Chen. “I would like to thank Bija, not only for this meaningful recognition, but for her inspiring dedication to mental and physical health, scientific research, and global collaboration. Bija is carrying on the remarkable legacy of her parents, Marshall and Arlene Bennett, whose generosity and life-long commitment to supporting science, medicine, and innovation continues to make a difference throughout the world today.”
