Prof. Iris Shai | Reichman University

Dean, School of Sustainability, Reichman University

Prof. Iris Shai (RD, MPH, PhD) is a Full Professor at Reichman University and serves as the Dean of its School of Sustainability. She is also a Full Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, an Adjunct Full Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an Honorary Professor at Leipzig University in Germany. Shai completed her studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben-Gurion University, and her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University as a prestigious Fulbright Fellow. Alongside her academic work in Israel, she teaches at Harvard and Leipzig and continues to advance her international research collaborations.

Prof. Shai is a world-renowned researcher in the field of nutrition. Her work focuses on the impact of food systems, environmental food contaminants, plant-based protein technologies, and the development of sustainable dietary patterns. Her interdisciplinary research explores the effects of personalized green-Mediterranean diets on cardiometabolic risk, brain function, omics, the microbiome, and aging.

Shai is considered a global pioneer in conducting large-scale, long-term clinical dietary intervention trials, managed with the same methodological rigor as pharmaceutical trials. Throughout her career, she has led groundbreaking trials such as DIRECT, CASCADE, CENTRAL, and DIRECT PLUS, which have become milestones in nutrition research. These studies were the first to demonstrate how different dietary patterns influence not only weight loss, but also reductions in visceral fat, liver and cardiovascular function, brain health, and epigenetic processes. In the DIRECT PLUS trial, Prof. Shai developed the concept of the Green-Mediterranean (Green-MED) diet — a sustainable, polyphenol-rich, and low–red meat dietary pattern. Under her leadership, a broad international team has published numerous high-impact papers from these trials, which have helped shape updated clinical and nutritional guidelines in cardiology, hepatology, and diabetes.

Prof. Shai has served as a member of Israel’s National Ministry of Health Committee for Healthy Nutrition Regulation and was a key partner in Israel’s food-labeling reform. She consults for innovative food-tech companies and supports pioneering studies on the bioavailability of plant-based and environmentally sourced proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Shai initiated Israel’s first international nutrition conference, “Colors of Nutrition,” which brought leading global nutrition researchers and policy makers together with Israel’s food-tech industry. She is a sought-after keynote speaker at international conferences and a recipient of prestigious research grants from the NIH and the European Union.

Prof. Shai has an H-index of 63 and about 22,000 citations. Her publications have appeared in top-tier journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Circulation, Gut, JACC, and The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Her former trainees now hold faculty positions at leading universities and hospitals in Israel and around the world.
Beyond her scientific awards, Prof. Shai has been recognized by public media as one of Israel’s ten most promising young scientists (Calcalist), one of the 50 most influential women in Israel (Globes), and one of five Israeli scientists whose groundbreaking studies amazed the world (N12 news).