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She has improved the life of millions of Multiple Sclerois sufferers, and is likely to impact the lives of hundreds of millions more if her flu vaccine proves as effective as early trials suggest.
But what Ruth Arnon wants most is government funding for the clinical research which could take her native land to the very forefront of biotechnology.
"Israel is full of brilliant scientists - but most of them don't have the time, space or funding to realise their full potential," says the new president of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and the Humanities. The first woman head of this august association, comprising Israel's leading 100 experts in their fields and existing to promote scholarly activity in Israel, takes up her post in September. She is a tough, outspoken Sabra prepared to fight for the resources she feels Israel so badly needs:
"Physicians, in particular, who would like to do research, go abroad and don't come back because they find more tempting opportunities overseas," she complains. "It's not just the salary, but also the difference between conditions at home and abroad.
"Of course it's vital for them to travel, get the experience of working in larger facilities and broaden their horizons, but those who come back find they are so involved with the day to day work of seeing patients they don't have time for research."
Happily, this was not the situation when Professor Arnon, an immunologist with a worldwide reputation, identified a therapeutic application for the drug known as Copaxone in her laboratory. Since it was licensed in 1996, it has improved the lives of countless MS sufferers lucky enough to get it in the early stages of the disease:
"It is a synthetic material which acts on the immune system and leads to the disappearance of cells which cause the disease, and promotes cells which are helpful," she says of the drug which began life with a 1967 discovery by herself and Professor Michael Sela.
"There are people on the first clinical trials we started 25 years ago who are in a better state now than they were then. There are practically no side effects."
Somehow, Arnon's team, in collaboration with neurologists, managed to get their own clinical trials started - vital if medical breakthroughs are to make it from animal research to bedside benefits for humans - years before they knew a drug company would come on board and take over funding their work and developing the drug.
Now, she says, private money is keener to get involved sooner, while research findings have been accelerated as processes improve. So while it took 29 years for Copaxone to get from experiments on mice into the hands of sufferers, we may be only five years away from the flu vaccine which will act on several strains of flu and only require one jab every five years.
But that does not mean Israel will not in the meantime continue to lose its doctors and scientists to the glittering prizes awaiting them overseas: "I have already talked to the government about this in my capacity as a scientific adviser," says Professor Arnon.
"There have been significant cuts in higher education and research in Israel, and I hope that's going to change. Biotechnology is an area that's really taking off - it has overtaken high-tech, IT and electronics, and with the Human Genome Project, and the advances we have made in stem cell research in Israel, we are very well placed to be part of it.
"But I can only advise - I can't force the government to hand over funding." She finds it "worrisome" that Israel is below average in the amount of clinical research it initiates, and would like to see a dedicated independent body, an Israeli equivalent of the US National Institutes of Health, to allocate funds and co-ordinate research.
Although she has travelled widely - her many awards include the French Legion of Honour and gongs from Germany and Spain as well as the Israel Prize, Professor Arnon has not been tempted to leave Israel.
"I was born in Israel, as was my mother, and I did all my training here," says the scientist who has also made significant contributions to cancer research.
At 77, she is far too busy to even think of retiring. Professional commitments and family have on occasion drawn her away from her Rehovot office at the Weizmann Institute, where she heads the department of chemical immunology. But never for very long: "I have children and grandchildren, and a son living in America whom of course I want to see, but I love Israel too much ever to leave it."
