About Prof. Joseph Kost
Joseph Kost D.Sc. is University Distinguished Professor and Senior Advisor to the President on International Research Strategies, holder of The Abraham and Bessie Zacks Chair in Biomedical Engineering and the past Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at the Ben-Gurion University of The Negev. He completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Chemical Engineering at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology before earning a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering at the same institution and Post-Doctoral training at University of Washington, MIT and Harvard Medical School. Kost went on to earn an M.B.A. at the Ben-Gurion University School of Management. Kost was the founder and first President of the Israeli Society of Controlled Delivery of Bioactive Materials. Between 2007 and 2011 he was the President of the Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Foreign Member of the United States National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Academy of Engineering in Poland. Honorary Fellow of the Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers. Member of the Controlled Release Society College of Fellows and Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Academic Degrees
2002 - 2004 M.B.A. School of Management, Ben-Gurion University, Israel.
1977 - 1981 D.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
1973 - 1975 M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
1969 - 1973 B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
Academic Positions and Professional Experience
2016-present Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
2011-2017 Dean, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
2010-2011 Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
1996-2016 Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
1998-2002 Chief Scientific Officer, Sontra Medical Corp., Franklin MA. USA.
1990-1996 Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
1985-1990 Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
1987-1988 Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Mass. Institute of Technology, (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA.
1984-1985 Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
1983-1984 Visiting Scientist, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
1982-1984 Research Associate, Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Mass. Institute of Technology, (MIT), Cambridge, MA, and Children's Hospital Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA.
1981- 1982 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemical Engineering, (Bioengineering), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
1978 -1981 Engineer, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, "Rambam" Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
1977 -1981 Instructor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
1975 -1977 Research Engineer, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
1973 -1975 Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
Memberships in Professional Societies
Polish Academy of Engineers (Foreign Member 2014-).
United States National Academy of Engineering (NAE). (Foreign Member 2007-).
American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (Fellow 1997 - ).
Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers. (President 2007- 2011).
American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
The Society for Biomaterials (USA).
Israel Society for Medical and Biological Engineers (Board of Governors 1989 - 1996).
Controlled Release Society (USA) (College of Fellows 2014-).
Israel Polymer and Plastics Society.
Israel Society for Controlled Delivery of Bio-Materials(Founder and President 1996-1997).
American Diabetes Association Professional Section (by invitation).
Prizes and Honors
1996 Juludan Prize for Outstanding Scientific Research Achievements, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
1996 President of the Israel Society for Controlled Delivery of Bio-Materials and the Israeli Chapter of the Controlled Release Society (1996-1998)
1998 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
1998 Clemson Award for Applied Research in Recognition of the Outstanding Contributions to Applied Biomaterials Research, Society for Biomaterials
1998 Founding member of the Journal Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics.
2001 Joel G Hardman Student-Invited Pharmacology Forum (Vanderblit University)
2004 Popular Science announced SonoPrep as the best new product for "personal health". (SonoPrep technology has been invented and developed by Kost and coworkers).
2005 Jacqueline Seroussi 2005 Award for Cancer Research in recognition of the project entitled: Ultrasound for efficient non-viral sustained gene therapy of breast cancer.
2006 Second Place Winner (Highlights of Student Poster Session), “Wolloch, L., and Kost, J., Approaches for Sonophoretic Flux Optimization,” 33rd Annual Meeting of the Controlled Release Society, Vienna.
2007 Outstanding Student Poster Award 3rd Prize; Shroeder A.,, Barenholz Y, Kost, J., Controlled Release of Drugs from Liposomes by Low-Frequency Ultrasound The 6th Annual Meeting of the Israeli Chapter of the Controlled Release Society, Advances In Drug Delivery, New Carriers, Devices and Therapies Caesarea.
2007 President of the Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers.
2007 Elected a Foreign Member of the United States National Academy of Engineering (NAE). For discoveries that led to ultrasonic drug release and self-regulated drug delivery systems.
2007 Sustaining Correspondent, NAS/NAE/IOM Committee on Human Rights
2008 TevaTech Lecturer (Ben-Gurion University)
2008 2nd place in the posters competition; Wolloch, L., A. Azaguri, Traitel, T R. Goldbart, R., Shmilovitch, D., Hallak, M., and Kost, J. “Ultrasound For Non-Invasive Detection of Amniotic Fluid”, The Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers (IICHE) 44th Annual Convention, Tel-Aviv.
2008 President’s Prize for Outstanding Scientific Achievements, Ben-Gurion University
2010 1st Place in the posters competition; Azaguri, A.,. Wolloch, L., Traitel, T., Goldbart, R., D. Shmilovitch, D., Hallak, M., and Kost, J. “Use of Chemical Enhancers and ultrasound for Non-Invasive Detection of Amniotic Fluid”, The Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers (IICHE) 46th Annual Convention, Haifa.
2010 First Place Winner (Highlights of Student Presentations Session), Perets, E., Rudich, A., and Kost, J. “Controlled delivery system to elicit anti-cancerous properties of the HIV protease inhibitor Nelfinavir” The 7th Annual Meeting of the Israeli Chapter of the Controlled Release Society, Haifa.
2010 Incumbent of the The Abraham and Bessie Zacks Chair in Biomedical Engineering.
2012 Honorary Fellow of the Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers.
2014 Elected a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Engineers
2014 Induction into the Controlled Release Society College of Fellows
2015 Elected a Member of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
2016 Ben-Gurion University Distinguished Professor
2016 The Israeli Chapter of the Controlled Release Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drug Delivery, in recognition of his pioneering work in the field of Ultrasound-Based Drug Delivery Systems
