Dr. Liran Shlush

Department of Immunology Weizmann Institute of Science

Dr. Liran Shlush was born in Haifa. He completed his BSc in medical sciences with honors in 1996 and his MD in 2001 at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Shlush served as the Deputy Director of the Israel Navy Medical Institute during his military service from 2002 to 2008. Returning to the Technion in 2006, he completed a PhD in population genetics in 2012. He also completed a three-year residency in internal medicine at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa from 2008 to 2011. He pursued his postdoctoral research from 2012-2014, and a clinical fellowship in the leukemia program beginning in 2014, both at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. He joined the Department of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in September 2015, and is the incumbent of the Ruth and Louis Leland Career Development Chair.

During his postdoctoral work, Dr. Shlush published a major insight into the biology of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). By tracking the “family history” of individual stem cells from the blood of AML patients, and using deep sequencing to identify alterations in genes commonly mutated in AML, he and his collaborators were able to identify “pre-leukemic” stem cells. These mutant stem cells go on to form cancerous cells. When AML patients are treated with chemo, the cancerous cells are killed, but these mutant stem cells remain and can cause recurrence. The finding holds significant promise for treatment, earlier diagnosis, and new screening for AML—and perhaps other cancers as well.

His academic and professional awards include: an American Society of Hematology Scholar Award in 2015, a five-year postdoctoral fellowship at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine beginning in 2011, an Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010 from the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, the 2008 Itai Sharon Atidim Award at the Rambam healthcare campus in Haifa, the IDF Excellence Award for First Response Military Medical Care in 2003, and an Excellence Award in the Internship program at the Rambam Healthcare Campus in 2001.

Dr. Shlush is married and has three children.