In 2023, a 500M NIS five-year flagship initiative - “Mavri” - was launched, together with two philanthropic partners: Yad Hanadiv and the Klarman Family Foundation. The aim of the "Mavri" initiative is to strengthen the connection between the research and medical worlds, and to encourage scientific-clinical collaborations, which are essential to the success of advanced and ground-breaking bio-medical research that has the potential to accelerate discoveries and implementations of novel treatment methods. The initiative comprises, alongside research grants operated by the Israel Science Foundation (further details can be found at the ISF’s website), an investment in programs aimed to encourage clinicians to engage more substantially in scientific research, and the establishment of career paths for Physician-Researchers, including a program to encourage the joint affiliation of Physician-Researchers (at a hospital and a university).

The “Mavri” initiative is the continuation of the Israel Precision Medicine Partnership (IPMP), a ~200M NIS research grant scheme run by the ISF between the years 2018-2022, jointly funded by the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education, Israel National Digital Agency, the Ministry of Health, and the two philanthropic foundations mentioned above. More than 150 researchers participated in IPMP (approx. 65% from universities and 35% from hospitals and health organizations), as well as over 260 research students and post-doctoral researchers. The IPMP produced impressive results within short time both in terms of research outputs (publications, additional grants, etc.), and with respect to clinical applications (e.g., the development of novel diagnostic, treatment and imaging approaches) and to commercial accomplishments (foundation of startups). For further details, please go to the IPMP’s website.

In parallel to Mavri, the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education is one of the founding partners of the national initiative Psifas (Hebrew for Mosaic), a ~250M NIS project, jointly funded by the Health, Finance and Defense Ministries, Israel National Digital Agency, and the Israel Innovation Authority. The mission of Psifas is to establish a national genomic and medical data repository, collected from volunteers, for the purpose of accelerating research and medical breakthroughs, and the development of new methods for disease prevention, identification and early personalized treatment. Psifas is an inter-university venture in partnership with Clalit Health Services (Israel’s biggest HMO), and a number of major hospitals. Further details can be found here.

Call for Proposals: First Cycle (2024) of the Physician-Researcher Program – Submission deadline for the 2024 cycle: 15.07.2024