Scientific staff

Collections-wide support team:

Dr. Revital Ben-David Zaslow – Chief Collections Manager
Yonatan Gur – Collections Database Manager

Terrestrial vertebrates section

Curators
Prof. Shai Meiri, Section Leader – Reptiles, mammals, and birds
Prof. Tamar Dayan – Mammals
Prof. Eli Geffen – Mammals, reptiles, and amphibians
Dr. Karin Tamar – Mammals, reptiles and amphibians
Prof. Yossi Yovel – Bats
Prof. Eran Levin – Bats
Prof. (emeritus) Yoram Yom-Tov – Birds and mammals (Curator emeritus)
Prof. (emeritus) Yoel Rak – Early Hominids (Curator emeritus)

Associate Curator
Dr. Roi Dor – Terrestrial Vertebrates (the Open University)

Collection managers
Dr. Amos Belmaker – Birds
Daniel Berkowic – Birds (eggs and nests)
Avigail Ben-Dov Segal – Birds (The Feather Lab Manager)
Tal Vardi – Technical Assistant
Yulia Gordover – Technical Assistant

Taxidermy
Igor Gavrilov – Chief Taxidermist
Dr. Stanislav Volynchik – Taxidermist and Preparator

Volunteers
Avraham (Rami) Biran
David Kobilar

Aquatic and marine section

Curators
Prof. Jonathan Belmaker, Section Leader – Fishes
Prof. Roi Holzman – Fishes
Dr. Bat-Sheva Rothman – Fishes
Prof. Frida Ben-Ami – Mollusks
Prof. Noa Shenkar – Ascidians
Dr. Omri Bronstein – Echinoderms
Prof. Micha Ilan – Sponges
Dr. Stanislav Pen-Mouratov – Nematodes
Dr. Zafrir Kuplik – Coelenterates
Dr. Liron Goren – Ringed worms
Dr. Tom Shlesinger – Corals
Prof. Menachem Goren – Fishes (Curator emeritus)
Prof. (emeritus) Yehuda Benayahu – Soft corals (Curator emeritus)
Prof. Bella Galil – Crustaceans (Curator emerita)

Associate Curator
Dr. Nir Stern – Fishes (IOLR)

Collection managers
Dr. Sigal Shefer – Sponges
Henk Mienis – Mollusks
Oz Rittner – Mollusks
Dr. Noga Sokolover – Bryozoans and Echinodermata
Dr. Irit Zohar – fish remains from archeological sites
Dr. Revital Ben-David Zaslow – Corals and special projects
Lion Novak – Ascidians
Asaf Nashiv – Technical Assistant
Tom Morav – Technical Assistant
Dana Goldwasser – Technical Assistant
Avery Deveto – Technical Assistant

Volunteers
Ronit Vilker Alhadef
Nathan Sharon
Moti Ginter

Entomology section

Curators
Prof. Netta Dorchin, Section Leader – Chief curator of Entomology, Flies
Dr. Sergei Zonstein – Spiders
Dr. Gal Ribak – Beetles
Dr. Gideon (Gidi) Pisanty – Parasitoid wasps
Dr Zohar Yanai – Aquatic insects
Prof. (emeritus) Abraham Hefetz – Bees (Curator emeritus)
Dr. Dany Simon – Mantids, roaches, lacewings (Curator emeritus)
Prof. Vladimir Chikatunov – Beetles (Curator emeritus)

Associate curators
Dr. Yael Mandelik – Bees (the Hebrew University)
Dr. David Furth – small orders (the United States National Museum of Natural History)
Dr. Inon Scharf – Lacewings

Collection managers
Dr. Zoya Yefremova – Parasitoid wasps
Dr. Moshe Guershon – Grasshoppers, katydids, crickets
Dr. Wolf Kuslitzky – Parasitoid wasps
Dr. Armin Ionescu-Hirsch – Wasps and ants
Dr. Tatyana (Tania) Novoselsky – Heteroptera
Ariel-Leib-Leonid (Laibale) Friedman – Beetles
Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Morgulis – Flies
Dr. Mike Mostovski – Flies
Dr. Malkie Spodek – Aphids, whiteflies, scale insects, jumping lice, cicadas
Oz Rittner – Butterflies and moths
Ofir Tomer – Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Noah Michaeli – Technical Assistant
Ida Rotter – Technical Assistant

Volunteers
Dr. Avi Keysary
Tirza Stern
Dr. Binyamin Shalmon
Amir Weinstein

Herbarium section

Curator
Dr. Yuval Sapir, Section Leader

Associate curator
Dr. Jotham Ziffer Berger

Collection managers
Dr. Razy Hoffman – Herbaria of marine and freshwater plants, Cyanobacteria and aquatic parasitic fungi
Dr. Jotham Ziffer Berger – Land plant herbarium
Yonatan Gur – Fungi
Bruria Gal – Fungi
Horesh Zechariah  – Technical Assistant

Volunteers
Miri Lazar
Yacov Ashani

Paleobiology section

Curators
Dr. Dafna Langgut, Section Leader – Archaeobotany
Prof. Lidar Sapir-Hen – Archaeozoology
Dr. Meirav Meiri – Archeobiology (Ancient DNA)
Dr. Yuri Katz – Invertebrate Palaeontology
Dr. Olga Orlov-Labkovsky – Micropaleontology

Associate Curators
Prof. Sigal Abramovich – Paleontology (Ben-Gurion University)
Prof. Miriam Belmaker – Archaeozoology (University of Tulsa, Oklahoma)

Collections manager
Dr. Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer – Palaeontology and Archaeomalacology

Molecular systematics and tissue collection

Curator
Prof. Dorothee Huchon

Collection manager
Dr. Tamar Feldstein-Farkash – Collection manager and Head of the Molecular Systematics Laboratory
Sahar haj Yahya – Technical Assistant

The Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research

Dr. Hilla May – Curator and Head of Center
Dr. Rachel Sarig – Curator
Prof. (emeritus) Israel Hershkovitz – Curator Emeritus
Prof. (emeritus) Baruch Arensburg – Curator Emeritus

Technical assistants
Nili Zilberberg

Administrative manager
Marie Gabrielle Florence Anton Levy

Israel Center for Citizen Science

Dr. Tomer Gueta – Center Development Director
Naama Arkin – Head of Technology Infrastructure Development
Dr. Nirit Lavie-Alon – Head of Citizen Science Practice
Dr. Shai Ben Ami – Head of Community, Outreach, and Content
Dr. Yaela Golumbic – Head of Citizen Science R&D
Shlomo Preiss-Bloom – Content and UI Translator
Zohar Afek – Training Materials Designer and Developer
Dr. Adi Barash – Marine citizen science (postdoc student)

Science and Policy Section

Dr. Ronit Justo-Hanani – Assistant Professor for Biodiversity Regulation and Policy

Applied research centers

The Israel National Center for Aquatic Ecology

Dr. Yaron Hershkovitz – Director
Avital Katz – Database management, International researchers
Dr. Ori Segev – Head of stream restoration
Tuvia Eshcoly – Head of stream monitoring
Nadine Gavriely – Stream monitoring coordinator
Yoni Nissim – Biological monitoring of streams
Noa Zanzori – Administration
Shai Scharfberg – GIS mapping
Nili Segman – Taxonomy of Odonates
Dafi Luz – Masters student (Water beetles)
Almog Hershko – Ph.D student (Caddisflies)

The Entomological Laboratory for Applied Ecology

Ittai Renan — Head of Lab
Gilad Ben Zvi – Lab Manager
Adi Ramot – Field Work and classification coordinator
Dr. Or Comay – Israel invertebrate red list coordinator
Dr. Udi Segev – Israel ant black book coordinator, red list co-author
Sharon Asis – Pollinator monitoring coordinator

HaMaarag — Israel’s Nature Assessment Program

Ittai Renan — Manager of Hamaarag
Iris Yerushalmi — Administrative manager
Tomer Karni — Coordinator of monitoring programs
Michal Koren — GIS and cartography coordinator
Dr. Ron Chen — Quantitative ecologist
Shira Grossbard – Editor of The State Of Nature Report
Dr. Orr Comay –  Data ecologist
Ido Livne – Remote sensing coordinator
Zohar Afek –  Rare Butterflies research
Ella Pasternak – Ecologist and zoologist
Ori Ismach – Rsearch assistant
Bar Pezarker – M.Sc Student for stray cats

The Open Landscapes Institute

Uri Ramon — Director
Dr. Aviv Avisar — Head of the Research Unit
Dr Liron Amdur — Agricultural and environmental economy
Noa Zanzuri — Administrative Manager
Dr. Rona Winter-Livne —  Manager of GIS Unit
Dar Ben-Natan – Senior Botanist, Taxonomy expert
Dr. Amir Perelberg — Head of Survey Unit
Eitan Romem — Survey coordinator
Bar Shemesh — Head of Botanists section
Amit Mendelson — Head of Landscape and cultural heritage section
Hila Gil — Survey and research coordinator
Liraz Cabra-Leykin — Head of Ecology section
Inbal Biberman – Senior forest survey coordinator
Nadav Sade — Assimilation and Social visibility
Einat Gera — Survey Coordinator
Lavi Coren – Survey and Research Coordinator
Ahiad Sade – Manager of forest survey
Dvora Lev-Ramati – Survey and research Coordinator
Neta Friedman – Survey Coordinator
Inbar Schnitzer – Survey Coordinator
Yoel Hasin – Survey and research Coordinator
Achikam Gera – Forest Survey Coordinator
Gal Lupovitsh – Forest Survey and GIS coordinator
Yoav Yoskovitsh – Forest Survey and GIS coordinator
Gabi Hafner – Forest Survey and GIS coordinator
Alona Haim – Forest Survey and GIS coordinator
Gaya Scharf – Forest Survey and GIS coordinator
Noa Valzer – Foret Surveyor
Goldie Yurkovitsh – Foret Surveyor
Daniel Idan – Foret Surveyor
Miryam Ron – Senior Botanist
Ofra Friedman – Botanist
Noam Segev – Botanist
Reut Loria – Botanist
Dr. Dvora Shize – Botanist
Tal Levanony – Botanist
Shiri Gluska – Implementation and Social media coordinator
Shay Sharfberg – GIS Expert and Surveyor
Hadar Fuchs-roval – Researcher, Agricultural and Environmental Economy

Museum Scientists

Museum scientists are Tel Aviv University faculty members who have a special relationship with the museum and contribute to its missions in research, conservation, and education.

Prof. Arnon Lotem, School of Zoology
Prof. Noga Kronfeld-Schor, School of Zoology
Prof. Amir Ayali, School of Zoology
Prof. David Eilam, School of Zoology
Dr. Ofir Levy, School of Zoology
Dr. Orr Spiegel, School of Zoology
Prof. Avigdor Abelson, School of Zoology
Dr. Inon Scharf, School of Zoology
Prof. Marcelo Sternberg, School of Plant Sciences & Food Security
Prof. Lilach Hadany, School of Plant Sciences & Food Security
Prof. Itay Mayrose, School of Plant Sciences & Food Security
Prof. Israel Finkelstein, Department of Archeology and Near Eastern Studies
Dr. Joseph Hendler, Department of Art History
Prof. Eva Yablonka, Cohn Institute of Philosophy