The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases Dedicated at Tel Aviv University
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Center Is First of its Kind in Israel and the Third Major Medical Project on Campus Supported by the Adelsons

The first academic research center in Israel dedicated to curing addictive diseases by uncovering their biological mechanisms was inaugurated at Tel Aviv University (TAU). The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases was initiated and is being supported by addiction researcher and clinician Dr. Miriam Adelson and her husband Sheldon G. Adelson.

The Adelson Center was established at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine, of which Dr. Adelson is a graduate.

Aimed at developing new medications and therapies for treating addictive diseases, the Adelson Center will build upon existing research innovation and excellence in the field at TAU, and concentrate efforts into a single, dedicated national hub.

Funding will be used to train and nurture the next generation of scientists, physician-scientists, clinicians and other specialists in the biology of addictive diseases, expand the scope and range of research in this area at TAU and its affiliated hospitals, and promote closer cooperative ties between TAU medical scientists and those at other universities in Israel and around the world. A priority of the Adelson Center is to educate policy makers, as well as the general public, and thereby influence policy decisions on the treatment of addictive diseases.

The Adelsons are longtime supporters of Tel Aviv University and the founders of a graduate school in medicine and a chair in the biology of addictive diseases at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. They also founded Israel’s first clinic for the treatment of addictive diseases at the Tel Aviv University-affiliated Sourasky Medical Center.

At the inauguration ceremony for the Adelson Center, held during Tel Aviv University’s annual meeting of its International Board of Governors, Dr. Adelson stated: “From childhood I have been sensitive to things that are unfair, and as a physician working in emergency rooms I became aware that people suffering from drug addiction are treated unfairly. ... Addiction is a disease, a brain disease, and has psycho-social ramifications that society must address properly.”

Dr. Adelson was awarded an honorary doctorate by Tel Aviv University during this year’s board meeting in recognition of her ardent and tireless championing of improved research and treatment of substance abuse and for her support of medical studies and research at TAU.

At the inauguration of the Adelson Center, outgoing TAU President Itamar Rabinovich commented that breakthroughs in biomedicine remain at the forefront of the challenges of the 21^st century, and that the Adelsons’ support for Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine represents a significant milestone in meeting those challenges.

The Adelson Center has recruited Prof. Zvi Vogel of the Weizmann Institute of Science as its founding Director. In addition, the Center will receive the guidance of Dr. Adelson’s scientific mentor, Prof. Mary Jeanne Kreek, Head of the Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases at Rockefeller University Hospital, New York, and a 2007 TAU honorary doctor.

“It is especially exciting and important that the generosity of the Adelsons has been extended to an area that is greatly needed -- research into the molecular neurobiology and pathological ramifications of specific addictive diseases, with an emphasis on heroin and cocaine addictions,” Prof. Kreek stated.

Dr. Miriam Adelson earned her B.Sc. in microbiology and genetics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem before pursuing medical studies at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, where she graduated with an M.D. magna cum laude. A dedicated research-physician, Dr. Adelson specialized in internal and emergency medicine and was a head physician in each of these areas at the Rokach (Hadassah) Hospital in Tel Aviv. Since 1986, she has devoted her time to researching and treating drug abuse and the biology of addictive diseases, including establishing drug clinics in the Las Vegas, where the Adelsons live, and Tel Aviv.

Sheldon G. Adelson, a 2006 TAU honorary doctor, is Chairman of the Board and principal owner of Las Vegas Sands Corp. He has had a six-decade career in the United States and Asia as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He owned his first business by the time he was 12, and in the years that followed he worked as a mortgage broker, investment adviser and finance consultant. Mr. Adelson has created and developed more than 50 different companies, among them Comdex, the world’s largest trade show for the computer industry.

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson are well-known in the philanthropic world for their extensive support of Jewish and other causes throughout the United States and Israel and are major benefactors of Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority and Taglit Birthright Israel.

With over 1,400 clinicians affiliated with TAU in 17 hospitals, Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine is Israel’s largest medical teaching, research and treatment complex, serving half of Israel’s population. The Faculty encompasses six schools, 30 departments, 27 research institutes and 45 academic chairs. Its ongoing collaborative research with the world’s leading research centers such as the N.I.H., Harvard and the Pasteur Institute has made it a vital artery in the network of world-class medical science.