After years of being graciously included in my friends’ Jewish holiday celebrations and hearing them say, “L’ shana haba’ah B’Yerushalayim”, last week I traveled to Jerusalem for the first time to host The Genesis Prize ceremony. Deemed the “Jewish Nobel”, Genesis is a $1 million annual prize awarded to Jewish individuals in recognition of their personal and professional contributions to humanity. In the sprit of “Tikkun Olam”, all Genesis laureates donate their prize money to worthy causes, in an effort to “repair the world”. The evening opened with a powerful tribute to the doctors and NGO’s who are working with refugees of the war in Ukraine; and culminated in awarding Dr Albert Bourla, for his visionary leadership during the Covid pandemic. Albert is the Chairman and CEO of Pfizer and the son of Holocaust survivors. He plans to use his prize to create a Holocaust museum in his hometown of Thessaloniki, Greece. Albert’s parents were among the 2,000 survivors of a once thriving Jewish community of over 50,000. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to make a personal call to action to the doctors and scientists in attendance and to the scientific community at large. As Dr. Bourla has said, we are on the verge of a scientific renaissance, and it is my profound hope that in the coming years, a cure for Alzheimer’s and Dementia will be found. With my daughters and husband in attendance, and with the support of my mother and sisters, I spoke publicly for the first time about my father’s struggles with Alzheimer’s. It was a privilege to thank Albert and his team for creating a vaccine that helped the world and personally helped to safely reunite my children with my parents before my father lost the ability to recognize them. This trip to the Holy Land began my personal journey toward better understanding thousands of years of rich history and devastatingly complex conflict.... (Caption continued in comments) Photo: @noamc_official 👗 @galialahav