Dr. Zafra Lerman

Zafra received her PhD in Chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science. She has developed an innovative approach to teaching science at all levels using art, music, dance, drama, animation, and rap. These methods, which were successful with underprivileged students around the world, have received international recognition. In Chicago’s low-income neighborhoods, Lerman worked with students, teachers and parents and had a tremendous impact on their attitudes towards science. She worked with homeless students and taught them scientific concepts through dance; many of them later graduated from college. Over 16,000 Chicago public school students and more than 1,000 teachers participated in her programs.  

From 1986 to 2011, Zafra chaired the American Chemical Society's Subcommittee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights. She worked on human rights cases in the former Soviet Union, Russia, China, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, South Africa, and Iran. She also met with dissidents in many of these countries. At great risk to her own personal safety, she succeeded in preventing executions, releasing prisoners of conscience from jail, and bringing dissidents to freedom.  

Since 2001, she has been using Science Diplomacy as a Bridge to Peace in the Middle East and is the President of the Malta Conferences Foundation. The Malta Conferences are the only platform in the world which brings together Nobel Laureates and scientists from 15 Middle East countries to work for five days on solving regional problems, establishing cross-border collaborations, and forging relationships that bridge chasms of distrust and intolerance.  

Lerman has received over 40 international awards for her work, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Clinton (1999); the American Institute of Chemists Joseph Hyman Ethics Award (2000); the American Chemical Society (ACS) Parsons Award for outstanding public service to society through chemistry (2003); the Royal Society of Chemistry Nyholm Education Award (2005); the New York Academy of Sciences Pagels Human Rights for Scientists Award (2005); the George Brown Award for International Scientific Cooperation from CRDF Global (2007); the ACS Pimentel Award for Excellence in Chemical Education (2010); the International Conference on Chemistry for Mankind (India) Award for Stimulating Collaborations and Ensuring Human Rights (2011); the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Award for Science Diplomacy (2015); the American Physical Society Andrei Sakharov Prize for human rights (2016); the Peace and Justice Prize from the UN NOVUS summit (2016), and the Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (2017). She was honored by the U.S. Congress with speeches about her work in 2002, 2004, 2013, and 2019. Her book “Human Rights and Peace: A Personal Odyssey” was published in August 2024.