BGU Doctoral Student Wins President’s Innovation Fellowship
Ophir Ben-Shoham receives the President’s Fellowship for AI research improving clinical language models in medicine, under Prof. Nadav Rappoport.
The President of Israel’s Fellowship for Excellence and Scientific Innovation was awarded this week to doctoral candidate Ophir Ben-Shoham of the Stein Faculty of Computer and Information Science at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. This year’s theme was “Innovation in Science and Medical Technologies in the Face of Today’s Challenges.” Ben-Shoham has contributed to recently published studies comparing large language models that specialize in medical information.
The President’s Fellowships for Excellence and Scientific Innovation are awarded annually to outstanding Israeli doctoral students. The fellowships are designed to encourage high-quality academic research, incentivize scholarly work and achievement, and advance scientific innovation in Israel. In line with this year’s theme, an expert academic committee selected Israel’s most promising young researchers based on scientific excellence, the originality and innovative character of their research plans, academic achievements, and publications and recommendations from supervisors and leading scholars in the field.
Ben-Shoham received the fellowship in recognition of his research in artificial intelligence for medicine, conducted under the supervision of Prof. Nadav Rappoport. In recent months, the two have published several joint studies. Their work compared large language models tailored to medical content, highlighted the need for broader clinical language coverage within such models, and developed methods to improve clinical language models.
This year, the President’s Fellowships were awarded to 17 outstanding Israeli doctoral students, with the aim of promoting academic excellence and strengthening scientific innovation nationwide.
“I congratulate Ophir on this recognition of his scientific and innovative achievements, and I thank the President and the professional committee for their support of research and science in Israel,” said Prof. Nadav Rappoport. “I also want to emphasize this year’s theme—science and medical technologies—which highlights how central these fields have become in our lives.”
“I’m honored to receive this fellowship,” said Ophir Ben-Shoham. “Large language models are becoming increasingly important in medicine, and I’m glad our work is helping make these tools more reliable for clinical use and evaluation.”
