Professor Batsheva Kerem, an ICA-financed research scientist, was born in Tel-Aviv in 1955. Following her military service as an IDF officer she commenced her studies in biology at the Hebrew University. In 1979 she received her B.Sc. with distinction and then enrolled in the direct doctoral program at the Department of Genetics.
She was awarded her Ph.D. in 1986. From 1987 to 1990 she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Human Genetics, Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, where she worked with a group that discovered the gene responsible for CF.
Upon her return to Israel in 1990, she was appointed senior lecturer at the Department of Genetics of the Hebrew University. At the same time, she established the Israel National Center for CF Genetic Research.
Her observations facilitated the detection of CF carriers and the prevention of the disease through prenatal diagnosis. As the 1990s drew to a close, she initiated studies aimed at understanding the mechanism underlying chromosome structure and function. Professor Kerem is also highly esteemed for her studies on the involvement of frequent fragile sites in cancer.
She was made associate professor in 1998, and in 2003, she was promoted to full professor and has maintained this position ever since. Throughout the years she has filled many significant positions within the Hebrew University, such as Head of the Genetics Division.
On the national level, she served as Head of the Israel's National Center for Genomics (since 2000) and as a member of various advisory committees. In 2007 she was appointed President of the Genetic Society of Israel. She is also member of various European bodies dedicated to the study of the human genome.