Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, is a plant geneticist, food security expert and author. In 2013 he founded the Manna Center Program in Food Safety and Security at Tel Aviv University. Chamovitz has lectured worldwide on issues of global food scurity. He co-authored the 2018 report "Opportunities and challenges for research on food and nutrition security and agriculture in Asia" for the Association of Academies and Scientific Societies of Asia. He was co-chair of the India-Israel Forum subcommittee on Food Secuity, and a member of the Barilla International Forum on Food and Nutirican as an advisor to the Milan Protocol.

Chamovitz studied at both Columbia University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his Ph.D. in Genetics in 1992. From 1993 to 1996 he carried out postdoctoral research at Yale University before accepting a faculty position at Tel Aviv University as a recipient of the prestigious Alon Fellowship by the Council for Higher Education in Israel for outstanding young researchers. Chamovitz was a visiting scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and is a Visiting Professor at the School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences at Peking University. He served as Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University from 2014 to 2018.

His scientific career has been characterized by novel and field-defining research. During his doctoral research, he cloned several genes involved in the biosynthesis of beta-carotene.  As a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, he discovered the COP9 Signalosome (CSN) complex. His laboratory at pioneered the study of the CSN in both Arabidopsis and Drosophila, using genetic, biochemical, molecular and computational approaches. His lab also studies the role of glucosinolate breakdown products in plant signaling and development.

Chamovitz is a sought-after speaker and science commentator. His 2012 book What a Plant Knows has been translated into 18 languages, and was featured in the world press and media. Chamovitz is passionate about teaching and lectures to groups about the role of Plant Biology in feeding a growing world. Towards this end he does pro bono consultation for governmental and international agencies on issues concerning Food Security.  His on-line MOOC class has been attended by more than 100,000 students from all over the world.