Rivka Carmi

Rivka Carmi was born in 1948 in Zichron Yaakov

Carmi was born in Zikhron Ya'akov in 1948. Her mother, Zipora, was a social worker. Her father, Menachem, was an accountant, painter and amateur archaeologist.

She served as an officer in the IDF and later studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hadassah Medical School. She trained in pediatrics and neonatology at Soroka Medical Center. She then trained in medical genetics at Harvard in Boston.

Her research focused on genetic diseases among the Arab Bedouin population of the Negev. It included the identification of 12 new genes and 2 new syndromes, one called Carmi Syndrome. She also led projects to prevent hereditary diseases and advance women's education in that community.

From 2000 to 2005 she was dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University. She then became the university's president and served until the end of 2018. In 2017 an extension of her term drew protest from the academic senate.

She served on public committees, including the Rivlin Committee and the Locker Committee on the defense budget. In 2019 she became founding president of the Israel Academy of Science in Medicine.