Karen B. Avraham

Prof. Karen B. Avraham serves as Dean of the Gray Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University and holds the Drs. Sarah and Felix Dumont Chair for Research of Hearing Disorders. She leads the Laboratory of Neural and Sensory Genomics within the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry and maintains affiliations with the Sagol School of Neuroscience and Safra Center for Bioinformatics.

Her research centers on neural and sensory genomics, specializing in gene discovery, regulation mechanisms, and therapeutic development for hearing disorders. The lab employs advanced confocal and electron microscopy alongside multi-scale genomics, gene editing, drug repurposing, and epigenomic analysis to investigate genetic hearing impairment pathophysiology and pioneer precision medicine solutions for inner ear pathologies.

Recent publications demonstrate strong focus on translational genomics for rare diseases, AAV-mediated gene therapy for deafness, and neurogenetic disorder modeling. This work bridges computational genomics, neuroscience, and clinical therapeutics with consistent emphasis on precision interventions for auditory and neurological conditions.

Major recognitions include:

• TEVA Prize for Groundbreaking Research in Rare Diseases
• Teva Founders Prize on Breakthroughs
• FISEB STAR Award for Scientific Excellence and Leadership

Mentoring over 130 students across undergraduate, MSc, PhD, and MD-PhD programs, her research is supported by Klass Family funding and institutional resources dedicated to hearing disorder therapeutics. She actively leads international consortia including the International Society for Inner Ear Therapeutics and participates in major conferences like the Inner Ear Biology Workshop and Association for Research in Otolaryngology meetings.