Our History | Michigan-Israel Partnership

The Michigan-Israel Partnership for Research and Education was born out of a visionary desire to see the brightest minds in Michigan and Israel united in research to benefit humankind.  Business and community leader D. Dan Kahn made a gift in 2011 to fuel two $25,000 joint research projects in cardiovascular disease, splitting the funding between the University of Michigan and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He also helped launch the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Michigan-Israel Partnership Conference for Research and Education. It brought Technion faculty members to U-M to discuss science and to get to know their colleagues in the United States. During a gala dinner, Mr. Kahn movingly outlined his hope for continued collaboration. The following year, about two dozen U-M faculty made a trip to Haifa, Israel, for the second symposium. For many, it was their first time in the country. Though during a time of conflict, they were determined to put medicine first.

Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, which also had been pursuing philanthropically funded research projects with U-M through the Life Sciences Institute, joined the partnership in 2013. With a co-equal structure established among the three institutions, our mission expanded to include broad-based biomedical research, including for cancer and childhood diseases. We also sought to enable trainees and faculty to study and work at the partner institutions. As our initiative gained momentum and prestige, the compelling scientific benefits and future potential of the partnership became clear — including to a growing number of supporters.

Through ongoing generosity, we were able to increase the number and amount of research grants and educational exchanges. More than 100 people attended our third symposium and gala dinner in 2013 in Ann Arbor. They included representatives of the Michigan Israel Business Bridge and the governor of Michigan, who gave a keynote address. Mr. Kahn had died in 2012, but his dream had captured the imagination of leaders in Michigan and Israel.

Meeting for the first time at the Weizmann Institute in 2015, we began to identify even greater opportunities for our institutions. The success of our early research projects began to translate into external funding from the United States’ National Institutes of Health and the U.S.-Israel Binational Sciences Foundation. And in 2018, the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation announced it would launch two megaprojects in robotics and precision medicine. Funded with a $20 million gift to celebrate and advance Mr. Kahn’s vision, these efforts are engaging the world’s top innovators in pioneering efforts to improve quality of life for all.

Now in our second decade, the Michigan – Israel Partnership for Research and Education is uniting our three partner institutions in one goal: advancing the health and well-being of mankind.