Henryk (Hanokh) Czosnek

Henryk (Hanokh) Czosnek was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1947. He immigrated to Israel in 1972. He received his B.S. degree in biology from the Faculté des Sciences de Paris in 1969 and his M.S. degree from the Institut de Biologie Moleculaire, Faculté des Sciences de Paris, in 1971. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1978. In 1985, Dr. Czosnek joined the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as a senior lecturer. He was promoted to associate professor in 1989 and professor in 1996. Dr. Czosnek served as the department head (1998–1999) and as the head of genetics studies of the Faculty of Agriculture (2000– 2003). Dr. Czosnek’s research program has made significant contributions in several areas of plant pathology. The most noteworthy of these dealt with the biology, molecular characterization, and virus–vector relationships of the important geminivirus Tomato yellow leaf curl virus. Dr. Czosnek’s expertise in whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses has attracted widespread international interest and led to the establishment of meaningful research collaborations with scientists of developing countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Africa, the Caribbean region, and Central America. Dr. Czosnek’s tireless efforts to foster scientific interactions among Israeli scientists and those of the Arab world are uplifting. Dr. Czosnek served as the principal investigator in significant bi-national grants with scientists from the United States, France, Germany, India, Japan, and China. Dr. Czosnek is an active member of APS, the Israel Society of Plant Molecular Biology, and the Israeli Phytopathological Society.