Prof. Schwartz received a BSc (1971) in chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a PhD in chemical immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science (1977). In 1980, after completing her postdoctoral studies on the immunology of myasthenia gravis at the Weizmann Institute, and on nerve regeneration at the University of Michigan, she joined the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Neurobiology. She is the incumbent of the Maurice and Ilse Katz Chair of Neuroimmunology.
Prof. Schwartz pioneered the theory of “protective autoimmunity,” which attributes a revolutionary role to the immune system in supporting cognitive function, mental stability, stem cell renewal and repair, and in combating neurodegenerative diseases. Her recent studies have identified a specific compartment within the brain’s borders, the blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier, which permits the entry of immune cells into the brain when they are needed for repair following acute injury or neurodegenerative damage. She has recently made the game-changing discovery that with aging, this brain gateway loses some of its ability to support immune cell entry, and has demonstrated in mice that restoring the gateway’s activity by unleashing the immune system, partially reversed age-associated cognitive decline, increased the production of new neurons in the hippocampus, and alleviated neurodegenerative processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. In other work, together with Prof. Ido Amit, she identified the mechanism by which a particular viral infection during pregnancy (cytomegalovirus) affects the developing baby’s brain, leading to increased risk either for autism or schizophrenia, depending on the timing of when the mother is infected.
She has received numerous awards, including being elected President of the International Society of Neuroimmunology for 2016-2018, and becoming an Honorary Member of the World Immunopathology Organization in 2014. Prof. Schwartz received the Blumberg Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Research in 2015, the Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD, the Mental Health Research Association in 2010, the Rina and Yosef Shaked Prize for Brain Research and an honorary doctorate from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in 2009. Other honors included the Post-Polio Syndrome Research Award from the Polio Connection of America (2002), the Friedenwald Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the G. Heiner Sell Memorial Lectureship for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Spinal Injury awarded by the American Spinal Injury Association, and the International Glaucoma Review Award. In addition, she was the Career Woman of the Year in 2000.
She is married and has four grown children.