World

At Technion Helm

Sleep medicine pioneer eyes stronger embrace of higher education in Israel.

Haifa

S Jeep medicine expert Professor
Peretz Lavie was inaugurated
last week as the president of the
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,
after unanimous approval in June by the
Technion Board of Governors. Lavie took
office Oct. 1, replacing Professor Yitzhak
Apeloig, who is completing his second of
two four-year terms.
"This is the most important mission of my
academic life,' Lavie said. "As president of the
Technion, I will work with all my strength
and enthusiasm for the development and
flourishing of this great institution:
Lavie will focus on fundraising and
raising the profile of the importance of
higher education in Israel.
"We need to re-educate the Israeli pub-
lic and our government about the value
of higher education, and clearly show that
Israel's future is tied to world-class educa-
tion in science and technology. To deliver
that education, we have to recruit Israel's
brightest students and top-notch faculty
members to teach them, ensuring that the
Technion continues to advance as one of
the world's leading science and technology
universities by pioneering a variety of new
and international programs."
Despite assuming office amid a dubi-
ous global economic and political climate,

Prof. Lavie remains assured in his ability
and traveled the world carrying the latest
to guide the university through tough
information about Technion developments
times.
to Technion societies, helping raise in
"My presidency begins during an
excess of $500 million. He also served as
eclipse in which a major global economic
dean of the Nobel-Prize winning Faculty
slump coincides with a
of Medicine for six years.
crisis in the universities;
As a researcher and
however, I am confident
clinician, Prof. Lavie has
that with the Technion's
made seminal contribu-
incredible brainpower
tions to the understand-
and the commitment of
ing of the mysteries
the American Technion
of sleep, breaking new
Society, we will continue
ground in sleep apnea
to flourish even during
and cardiovascular dis-
the next few lean years."
ease, the role of melato-
Based in New York City,
nin, the effects of trauma,
the American Technion
and the development
Society (ATS) is the lead-
of new technologies for
ing American organiza-
diagnosis of sleep disor-
tion supporting higher
ders.
education in Israel. The
Lavie joined the
Prof. Peretz La vie
ATS has raised more than
Technion in 1975 as a lec-
$1.5 billion since its inception in 1940.
turer. In 1979, he developed the Technion
Lavie's presidency follows seven years
Sleep Research Laboratory and Sleep
as Technion vice president for resource
Medicine Center. The center has branches
development and external relations, dur-
all over Israel, and is also a part of the
ing which he supervised one of the univer- Harvard School of Medicine.
sity's largest administrative departments,
The editor-in-chief of the "Journal of Sleep

The community in invited to hear the new Technion president, Dr. Peretz Lavie,
at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Temple Israel, West Bloomfield. At this Technion
Shabbat Lavie will discuss "Building a Nation: The Technion Story."

Research, Lavie has authored several books,
written 300 scientific articles and given
hundreds of lectures all over the world. He
has written two books: The Enchanted World
of Sleep, the bestseller translated into 15 lan-
guages, and Restless Nights: Understanding
Snoring and Sleep Apnea.
In 2006, Lavie earned the EMET Prize
in Medicine in 2006 — considered the
highest scientific award in Israel. In 2004,
he won the University of Pisa Biannual
Sleep Medal, awarded to the best sleep
researcher in Europe.
Lavie's brainchild, the Watch-PAT, a
hand-mounted device for the diagnosis
of sleep apnea, is FDA approved, and used
nightly by thousands of patients around the
world. His studies on the negative impact of
"zero hour': which involved starting school
an hour earlier, convinced Israel's Ministry
of Education to abolish this practice in
elementary and middle schools, a decision
later adopted by several U.S. states.
He took an active role in the national
campaigns to reduce sleep-related acci-
dents, and in educating the public on
the risks of driving while sleepy. During
the first Gulf War, he convinced the
Israeli radio authorities to use the Silent
Channel on radio so that it could be left
open without disturbing people's sleep
and sounding a siren only when there
was actual danger. 1 I

Outgoing Technion Leader Lauded By U.S. Chemical Society

he American Chemical Society
will present its Frederic Stanley
Kipping Award to Professor
Yitzhak Apeloig, outgoing president
of the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology. He becomes the first
Israeli chemist to receive the prize,
considered the most important of its
kind in silicon chemistry.
A pioneer in the use of compu-
tations based on the Theory of
Quantum Mechanics for predicting
the physical and chemical proper-
ties of materials as well as suggest-
ing methods for preparing them,
Apeloig will receive the award for
"his groundbreaking achievements,

I

experimental and theo-
ments that convinced the
retical, in researching the
global scientific community
chemistry of silicon and
of the advantages and pos-
especially for his contri-
sibility of applying them,
bution to preparing and
particularly in the develop-
understanding the behav-
ment of new drugs.
ior of multi-bonded silicon
The theoretical computa-
materials (double and
tions devised by Apeloig
triple connections)."
and his research team
Apeloig was the first
opened the door for produc-
to predict in theory the
ing new silicon compounds
that did not previously exist,
possibility of the existence Professor Apeloig
of these materials and
compounds that can serve
afterwards to synthesize, research
as a basis for producing new polymer
materials with unique properties.
and predict their complex properties.
Application of these computations
Silicones, important organosilicon
to silicon chemistry led to achieve-
materials, are significant and unique

in that they are extremely water-
proof, and therefore, are used in
preservation structures and as insu-
lation, in cosmetics, and in various
implants and materials inserted into
the body such as catheters and infu-
sions. They are exceptionally durable
under severe weather conditions
and drastic temperature changes.
The boots worn by astronaut Neil
Armstrong on his historic walk on the
moon, for example, were made of sili-
con rubber, the only material known
to withstand the moon's extreme sur-
face conditions.
The American Chemical Society
has 200,000 members. Li

October 15 2009

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