Dr. Rachel Golan: The Phoenix

Dr. Rachel Golan, a faculty member at the School of Public Health, has released her debut book, aptly titled The Phoenix. The narrative chronicles her personal journey with breast cancer — an odyssey of illness, healing, and resilience. As she puts it, the book is “entirely about public health, recovery, and renewal.” Throughout the story, her deep ties to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev are woven in, reflected not only in her protagonist’s surname, Dr. Tze’ela Negev, but also in the numerous references to the academic institution where she both studied and later taught.

Born in Cape Town, Rachel immigrated to Israel at the age of seven with her family and was raised on Kibbutz Givat Brenner. From an early age, she developed a keen interest in nutrition and healthy living.

Following her military service as an education officer, she volunteered for six months with UNICEF, the UN's emergency fund for children, in Angola. There, she traveled between remote villages, weighing malnourished children on crude scales. That experience solidified her path: she decided to study nutrition at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University. She completed her internship at Soroka University Medical Center and then went on to earn a master’s degree in public health and a PhD in epidemiology under the mentorship of Professor Iris Shai.

After a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, she returned to Israel. In 2015, she joined the Department of Public Health, where she felt most at home, as an environmental epidemiologist. Since then, Dr. Golan has held a range of roles in public health and has been an active contributor to the University’s Green Campus Initiative. Her research focuses on environmental influences, such as nutrition, air pollution, pesticides, and smoking,  on chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Reflecting on the role Ben-Gurion University has played in her career, she says:

“I came of age at Ben-Gurion University, and to this day it remains my professional home. It’s where I learned to conduct advanced research alongside some of the world’s leading scholars. Thanks to interdisciplinary collaboration with colleagues from the Faculty of Health Sciences and beyond, I’ve published dozens of papers over the years. I’ve come to understand that a multidisciplinary team is essential, not just for groundbreaking research, but also for healing from serious illness.”

Rachel submitted her master’s thesis in public health with her infant son, Yaheli, peering over her shoulder from a baby carrier in Professor Shai’s office. During her doctoral studies, she gave birth to her daughter, Shira. She has always been grateful for the ability to both raise a family and pursue an academic career. At the time, her greatest challenge was relocating her young family to Atlanta for two years for a postdoc. Yaheli and Shira were just five and three years old when they set off into the unknown. Thanks to her husband Assaf, a graduate of BGU’s Department of Electrical Engineering, who supported her every step of the way, their sojourn in the US was a magical family adventure. Two years later, they returned to Israel, and six months later, their third child, a daughter, Roni, was born.

In May 2023, Rachel was diagnosed with breast cancer. Drawing upon everything she had learned over the years in the field of public health and as an epidemiologist, she confronted the disease head-on. During her preventive chemotherapy treatments, she began to write her story. In November 2024, she published her first book, The Phoenix. Professor Yaron Ziv, who supported her throughout the difficult days, told her after the book launch, “You remember I’m both a zoologist and an ornithologist? I’ve never seen a phoenix like this one.”

Today, Golan knows that the tools she acquired in academia will serve her well wherever she ends up. She shares her personal story, intertwined with the story of the University, at every opportunity.

“Through writing the book, I discovered my voice. And with that voice, combined with the knowledge I’ve amassed as a professional, I have not only earned the right, but also feel the responsibility, to promote breast cancer prevention among women around the world.”

In her second book, Rejoice Now, which is currently in advanced stages of editing, she continues to celebrate the University, with the image of David Ben-Gurion standing on his head as a recurring motif in her work.

Rachel reflects on her dreams, both from childhood and from later chapters in her life:

“My time in Angola taught me that dreams do come true. Throughout all my years at the University, I felt a persistent desire to return to Africa. Along the way, I fulfilled the greatest dream I had at the time and taught my children an important lesson: dreams do come true.”

Throughout her journey, she has been guided and supported by a dedicated group of colleagues and friends: Professors Iris Shai, Nadav Davidovitch, Anat Rosenthal, Assaf Rudich, and Yaron Ziv. She is indebted to each and every one of them.

Adapted from an article in issue 144 of Aleph-Bet-Gimmel, the University’s Hebrew language magazine. For the original article.