The Technion will award the prestigious Harvey Award for 2020-2019 to Prof. Joseph de Simon of Stanford University for his significant contribution to the materials sciences and to Prof. Rafael Meshulam of the Hebrew University for discovering the endocannabinoid system and researching its implications for human health.
The award, founded in 1971 by Leo Harvey, an industrialist and inventor from Los Angeles, is presented annually at the Technion for outstanding achievements in science, technology and human health and for a significant contribution to humanity. The prize is worth $ 75,000, and over the years has become a Nobel laureate and more than 30% of its winners later received the Nobel Prize. Three of them - Prof. Emanuel Sharpantia, Prof. Jennifer Daoudana and Prof. Reinhard Ganzel - will receive the 2020 Nobel Prize this month.
The award is given this year to Prof. Rafael Meshulam of the School of Pharmacy at the Faculty of Medicine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem following his groundbreaking research into the discovery of active molecules in the cannabis plant, the discovery of the endocannabinoid system and its effects on human health. The endocannabinoid system is found in every cell in our body and affects many important aspects in health and patients including sleep, appetite, pain, inflammation, bone density and diabetes. Prof. Meshulam was born in Bulgaria (1930), where he studied chemical engineering. After immigrating to Israel, he completed a master's degree in biochemistry at the Hebrew University, a doctorate at the Weizmann Institute and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. In 1960 he joined the junior faculty of the Weizmann Institute and in 1968 was appointed professor at the Hebrew University.
Prof. Meshulam is the first scientist to isolate the active psychoactive substance in cannabis, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), and determined its structure as well as the structure of the other main substance - cannabidiol. Both substances are currently used in drugs called Sativax and Epidiolax. Prof. Meshulam's many studies and pioneering discoveries have provided a therapeutic horizon for a wide range of pathological diseases and conditions, thus improving the well-being of mankind. Among other things, his research has led to the development of innovative treatments for pain, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
For his enormous research achievements, Prof. Meshulam has won prestigious awards, including the Israel Prize for Chemistry Research for the year 2000 and the Kolthof Prize in Chemistry from the Technion. Prof. Meshulam, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, was elected by the Jerusalem Post in June 2014 as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world.
Media publications -
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