Rivka Carmi (Hebrew: רבקה כרמי; born 1948) is an Israeli pediatrician and geneticist. She served as President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) from May 2006 until December 2018. Carmi is the first woman to be appointed president of an Israeli university.[1]
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Carmi was born in Zikhron Ya'akov, Israel. Her mother, Zipora, was a social worker. Her father, Menachem, was an accountant, a painter and an amateur archaeologist who died when Carmi was 14 years old.
She was an officer in the Israeli Defence Forces (Captain), and served as the commander of academics officers' training school. During the Yom Kippur War, she helped establish the missing in action (MIA) accounting unit in the IDF.
Carmi is a graduate of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hadassah Medical School.[2] She completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in neonatology at the Soroka University Medical Center and an additional fellowship in medical genetics at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard University Medical School.[3][4]
Carmi's research focused mainly on the delineation of the clinical manifestations and molecular basis of genetic diseases in the Negev Arab-Bedouin population.[5][6][7][8] Author of over 150 publications in medical genetics, her research included the identification of 12 new genes[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] and the delineation of 2 new syndromes,[28][29][30] one of which is known as the Carmi Syndrome. Carmi's first academic publication (1977) described an accumulation of carbon dioxide oxygen hoods, infant cots and incubators in possible relation with the sudden infant death syndrome phenomenon.[31] Her community outreach projects were aimed at preventing hereditary diseases and advancing women's education in the Bedouin community. She was involved with the establishment of biotechnology initiatives at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and served as the Acting Director of the nascent National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev.[2]
She served as President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) from May 2006 – December 2018.[32] She succeeded Avishay Braverman, and was followed by Daniel Chamovitz.[32][33]
Carmi is a member of the Advisory Board of the Genesis Prize Foundation.[34] She is a founding member of the UK-Israel Science Council and served as its co-chair alongside Professor Raymond Dwek in the years 2010–2017.[35] On April 4, 2013, the Minister of Justice, MP Tzipi Livni, appointed Carmi to be part of the Rivlin Committee. The committee examined the compensation agreement for workers of the nuclear research facility in Dimona that were exposed to ionizing radiation and diagnosed with cancer.
In May 2014 Carmi was appointed to the Locker Committee which examined Israel's national defense budget. In 2011 she was appointed chairperson of the Promotion and Representation of Women in Higher Education Institutions Committee (the Carmi Team).[36] In 2015 she headed the task force of the Israeli Medical Association established to study the status of women in medicine.
In November 2017, the search committee for president recommended extending Carmi's tenure as president by two additional years, through May 2020. In response, the academic senate held an extraordinary meeting, in which it declared that the search committee failed and called for the resignation of the chair of the executive committee, Asher Heled.[37] The executive committee decided to approve the extension despite the objections of the academic staff, which resulted in further protest.[38] The State Comptroller of Israel launched an investigation into the selection process.[39] In response, Carmi stated: "What I have in mind is the good of the university, so once a person is elected to head it, I will be the first to congratulate, to vacate my place and to pave the way for anyone found to be suitable – even if it is earlier than the two years that I was asked to fill.[40]
In February 2018, the executive committee announced that a new president would be elected by the end of year.[41]
Bet-Or H, Weizman D, Elbedour K, Shoham-Vardi I, Carmi R (2000). "Community based program to prevent hereditary deafness among the negev bedouins in israel". J Med Genet. A15 (37).
Raz, Aviad E.; Atar, Marcela; Rodnay, Maya; Shoham-Vardi, Ilana; Carmi, Rivka (2003). "Between Acculturation and Ambivalence: Knowledge of Genetics and Attitudes towards Genetic Testing in a Consanguineous Bedouin Community". Public Health Genomics. 6 (2): 88–95. doi:10.1159/000073004. PMID 14560069. S2CID 10952354. Birnbaum, Ramon Y.; Landau, Daniella; Elbedour, Khalil; Ofir, Rivka; Birk, Ohad S.; Carmi, Rivka (15 April 2008). "Deletion of the first pair of fibronectin type III repeats of the integrin β-4 gene is associated with epidermolysis bullosa, pyloric atresia and aplasia cutis congenita in the original Carmi syndrome patients". American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A. 146A (8): 1063–1066. doi:10.1002/ajmg.a.31903. ISSN 1552-4833. PMID 18348258. S2CID 205308681. Chiang, Annie P.; Beck, John S.; Yen, Hsan-Jan; Tayeh, Marwan K.; Scheetz, Todd E.; Swiderski, Ruth E.; Nishimura, Darryl Y.; Braun, Terry A.; Kim, Kwang-Youn A. (18 April 2006). "Homozygosity mapping with SNP arrays identifies TRIM32, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, as a Bardet–Biedl syndrome gene (BBS11)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (16): 6287–6292. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.6287C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0600158103. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1458870. PMID 16606853. Nishimura, Darryl Y.; Fath, Melissa; Mullins, Robert F.; Searby, Charles; Andrews, Michael; Davis, Roger; Andorf, Jeaneen L.; Mykytyn, Kirk; Swiderski, Ruth E. (23 November 2004). "Bbs2-null mice have neurosensory deficits, a defect in social dominance, and retinopathy associated with mislocalization of rhodopsin". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101 (47): 16588–16593. Bibcode:2004PNAS..10116588N. doi:10.1073/pnas.0405496101. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 534519. PMID 15539463. Mykytyn, Kirk; Nishimura, Darryl Y.; Searby, Charles C.; Shastri, Mythreyi; Yen, Hsan-jan; Beck, John S.; Braun, Terry; Streb, Luan M.; Cornier, Alberto S. (1 August 2002). "Identification of the gene (BBS1) most commonly involved in Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a complex human obesity syndrome". Nature Genetics. 31 (4): 435–438. doi:10.1038/ng935. ISSN 1061-4036. PMID 12118255. S2CID 29915446. Walder, Roxanne Y.; Landau, Daniel; Meyer, Peter; Shalev, Hanna; Tsolia, Maria; Borochowitz, Zvi; Boettger, Melanie Barbara; Beck, Gretel E.; Englehardt, Richard K. (1 June 2002). "Mutation of TRPM6 causes familial hypomagnesemia with secondary hypocalcemia". Nature Genetics. 31 (2): 171–174. doi:10.1038/ng901. ISSN 1061-4036. PMID 12032570. S2CID 33192419. Haider, Neena B.; Jacobson, Samuel G.; Cideciyan, Artur V.; Swiderski, Ruth; Streb, Luan M.; Searby, Charles; Beck, Gretel; Hockey, Robin; Hanna, David B. (1 February 2000). "Mutation of a nuclear receptor gene, NR2E3, causes enhanced S cone syndrome, a disorder of retinal cell fate". Nature Genetics. 24 (2): 127–131. doi:10.1038/72777. ISSN 1061-4036. PMID 10655056. S2CID 19508439. Buskila, Dan; Neumann, Lily; Hazanov, Ilia; Carmi, Rivka (1 December 1996). "Familial aggregation in the fihromyalgia syndrome". Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism. 26 (3): 605–611. doi:10.1016/S0049-0172(96)80011-4. PMID 8989805. Carmi, R.; Rokhlina, T.; Kwitek-Black, A. E.; Elbedour, K.; Nishimura, D.; Stone, E. M.; Sheffield, V. C. (1 January 1995). "Use of a DNA pooling strategy to identify a human obesity syndrome locus on chromosome 15". Human Molecular Genetics. 4 (1): 9–13. doi:10.1093/hmg/4.1.9. ISSN 0964-6906. PMID 7711739. Sheffield, Val C.; Carml, Rivka; Kwltek-Black, Anne; Rokhlina, Tatiana; Nishlmura, Darryl; Duyk, Geoffrey M.; Elbedour, Khalil; Sunden, Sara L.; Stone, Edwin M. (1 August 1994). "Identification of a Bardet-Biedl syndrome locus on chromosome 3 and evaluation of an efficient approach to homozygosity mapping". Human Molecular Genetics. 3 (8): 1331–1335. doi:10.1093/hmg/3.8.1331. ISSN 0964-6906. PMID 7987310. Carmi, R.; Gohar, J.; Meizner, I.; Katz, M. (1 June 1994). "Spontaneous abortion–high risk factor for neural tube defects in subsequent pregnancy". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 51 (2): 93–97. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320510203. ISSN 1096-8628. PMID 8092200. Parvari, R.; Weinstein, Y.; Ehrlich, S.; Steinitz, M.; Carmi, R. (15 February 1994). "Linkage localization of the thoraco-abdominal syndrome (TAS) gene to Xq25–26". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 49 (4): 431–434. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320490416. ISSN 1096-8628. PMID 7909197. Kwitek-Black, Anne E.; Carmi, Rivka; Duyk, Geoffrey M.; Buetow, Kenneth H.; Elbedour, Khalil; Parvari, Ruti; Yandava, Chandra Naidu; Stone, Edwin M.; Sheffield, Val C. (1 December 1993). "Linkage of Bardet–Biedl syndrome to chromosome 16q and evidence for non–allelic genetic heterogeneity". Nature Genetics. 5 (4): 392–396. doi:10.1038/ng1293-392. PMID 8298649. S2CID 30898539. Carmi, Rivka; Boughman, Joann A. (1 January 1992). "Pentalogy of Cantrell and associated midline anomalies: A possible ventral midline developmental field". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 42 (1): 90–95. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320420118. ISSN 1096-8628. PMID 1308371. Carmi, R.; Meizner, I.; Katz, M. (1 July 1990). "Familial congenital diaphragmatic defect and associated midline anomalies: Further evidence for an X-linked midline gene?". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 36 (3): 313–315. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320360314. ISSN 1096-8628. PMID 2363430. Carmi, R.; Sofer, S.; Karplus, M.; Ben-Yakar, Y.; Mahler, D.; Zirkin, H.; Bar-Ziv, J.; Opitz, John M. (1 March 1982). "Aplasia cutis congenita in two sibs discordant for pylori atresia". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 11 (3): 319–328. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320110308. ISSN 1096-8628. PMID 6177243.
