Prof. Angel Porgador is the incumbent of the Albert Katz Chair in Cell Differentiation and Malignant Diseases, and a member of the Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. He served as Deputy Vice President and Dean for Research and Development until his recent election as the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Prof. Porgador has led the interdisciplinary Corona Task Force established by BGU President, Prof. Daniel Chamovitz. He also heads a team of University researchers who have developed a new COVID-19 pooling test that identifies all positive subjects, including asymptomatic carriers, in a single round of testing, ultimately helping to prevent the spread of the disease by identifying these patients sooner and at a lower cost using significantly fewer tests.

Prof. Porgador is a world renowned researcher in cancer and viral infections. His research focuses on innate immunity of health and disease. In much broader terms, he also investigates prolongation of protein lifespans in a host and the direct killing of tumor cells. He has published more than 130 papers in scientific journals. He holds a B.A with honors in basic medical sciences and an additional B.A in Computer Science and Mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He completed his M.A and Ph.D. in Life Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science. His postdoctoral fellowship was at Duke University and the American Institutes of Health (NIH). Porgador has served as President of the Israel Immunological Society and as the President of the Israeli Society for Cancer Research. In his role as Dean, he intends to position the faculty as a leader both in Israel and worldwide, strengthen research and recruit outstanding faculty members. Implementing new and innovative teaching methods is also high on his list of priorities, along with encouraging collaborative research projects, setting up community projects to promote good health and the training of a future generation in the Beer-Sheva spirit.