‘Wonderful Women’ in focus at Celebrating Philanthropy event
Women and Science Committee Members L to R: Estelle Richmond, Linda Reitapple, Michele Atlin, Chair, Francie Klein, Alana Kotler, Jennifer Tugg, Susan Rose, Reggie Greenberg, Nancy Pencer
Weizmann Canada hosted more than 200 individuals for its Celebrating Philanthropy: Wonderful Women event in Toronto on September 25.
To highlight the importance of women in science, Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first female astronaut and first neurologist in space, gave a keynote address on the challenges she faced as she pursued her dreams, and the importance of encouraging and supporting women to pursue the sciences.
This led to a lively panel discussion moderated by Dr. Bondar with panelists Dr. Naama Aviram, a postdoctoral fellow in the Marraffini Laboratory of Bacteriology at Rockefeller University; Dr. Elena Meirzadeh, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University; and Dr. Shira Weingarten-Gabbay, a fellow in the Sabeti Lab, part of the FAS Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University. The participants shared stories about their journeys and the opportunities afforded to them through the support of the Israel National Postdoctoral Award Program for Advancing Women in Science.
The evening’s program also included highlights of new research from the Weizmann Institute and featured the Weizmann Canada’s Women and Science committee, highlighting its efforts to raise funds for the Advancing Women in Science Program.
