2026 – Ayelet Erez

Ayelet Erez is the winner of the 2026 Pezcoller – Marina Larcher Fogazzaro – EACR Women in Cancer Research Award for her studies on the changes in cancer metabolism, with a particular focus on the role of amino acids.

Ayelet Erez, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist who studies the gap between clinical medicine and basic science to advance healthcare. Her studies on the metabolic crosstalk between the host and cancer focus on translating metabolic insights into therapeutic and diagnostic innovations.

Her research focus on cancer metabolism and amino acid behavior. In fact, she has discovered that changes in amino acid catabolism — the process by which amino acids are broken down and transformed — contribute to carcinogenesis and can be identified both at the genomic level, by analyzing DNA, and at the biochemical level, by studying chemical reactions in cells.

Furthermore, these changes can be used to predict cancer response to immunotherapy and may potentially lead to metabolic alterations that enable early detection and “personalization” of immunotherapy.

WHO IS AYELET EREZ?

Dr. Erez earned her medical degree from the Technion Institute in Haifa, and subsequently pursued a pediatric residency and a PhD in Cancer Genetics at Tel Aviv University. She then trained at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where she completed a clinical genetics fellowship and conducted postdoctoral research on the metabolism of human diseases.
In 2012, Dr. Erez returned to Israel to join the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she currently serves as Dean of the Weizmann MD-PhD School and Head of the Center for Rare Genetic Diseases. Beyond her academic leadership, she volunteers weekly at the Oncogenetics Clinic at Schneider Children’s Medical Center, where she assists in providing genetic counseling to pediatric patients with suspected hereditary cancer syndromes.