Page 19 - PresidentReport2024Portrait

Meet

Prof. Ariela Gordon-Shaag,

Incoming President

Prof. Ariela Gordon-Shaag, a well-known figure at HAC, and an active member of
the academic faculty, will become HAC’s new President starting July 1, 2024. Born
in Chicago, Ariela earned her B.Sc. in Chemistry from Barnard College, Columbia
University. She later earned an M.Sc. in Genetics and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology
from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During 2002-2005, Ariela was a
post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005-
2007 she was a post-doctoral fellow at The Hebrew University’s Faculty of
Medicine, after which time she joined the faculty of HAC.

Since 2023, Ariela has served as Chair of HAC’s Interdisciplinary Faculty
of Health, Science, and Society, and she is a member of the Executive
Committee of HAC’s Board of Directors. During 2014-2023, Ariela
served as Chair of HAC’s Department of Optometry and Vision Science.
Among her many achievements there, she worked hard to update the
curriculum to meet the demands of the European Council on Optometry
and Optics, as a result of which HAC received significant grant support from
European funders. During her tenure as Chair, Ariela consistently promoted
research activities within the Department by establishing collaborations
with other academic institutions, along with the optics industry in Israel and
abroad, which led to dozens of scientific collaborations, and an exponential
increase in the number of scientific publications published and grant proposals
funded. In addition, Ariela was centrally involved in raising funding for three
consecutive renovations to the Department and its clinics. Ariela contributed
immensely to the establishment of HAC’s degree program in Optometry for
ultra-Orthodox women, and the International Master’s degree program in
Optometry (in English) both of which were approved by the Council for Higher
Education.

From 2019 to the present, as a member of HAC’s Internationalization Committee,
Ariela directed the further development of HAC’s strategic internationalization
plan, and led efforts to submit three grant proposals to the Council for Higher
Education concerning HAC’s internationalization activities, which resulted in
significant funding for this initiative at the College.

17