The roots of ISPP start in the early sixties. In 1962 Prof. Jonathan Magnes decided to organize a meeting of the active scientists in Physiology and Pharmacology in Jerusalem. He became the chairman of the organizing committee, Prof. Asher Ilani was the secretary of the committee and near the end of 1962 the first meeting took place. At this meeting it was decided to establish a society that will deal with all aspects of Physiology and Pharmacology and will serve as a liaison with international bodies.

As a consequence of this meeting the governing council of the ISPP was elected with Prof. Jonathan Magnes, from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School as the Chairman and the members were: Prof Felix Bergman from the Dept of Pharmacology at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Prof. Habib Edery from the Biological Institute in Nes-Ziona and Prof. Shlezeniak from the Weizmann Institute. Meanwhile Prof Asher Ilani left for post doctoral training in the United States and Rami Rahamimoff was elected as the secretary of the governing council. The governing council established the bylaws of the society and most of the bylaws are in effect until today.

At the beginning there were intensive discussions what should be the frequency of the meetings of the society and it was decided to have meetings in all major institutions in Israel dealing with Physiological and Pharmacological research at the frequency of 4 times a year. The initial meetings rotated between the Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School, The Weizmann Institute, the newly established Tel Aviv University and later on The Technion in Haifa and Ben Gurion University in Beer-Sheva.

The establishment of the society was of tremendous importance for the young members of the community who learnt how to present their results in a concise and clear manner. On the International level the society applied to become a member of IUPS (International Union of Physiological Sciences) and due to its small membership it was at first accepted as an associate member and only later on as a full member of the international body.
The first two International events in which the ISPP took part were a joint meeting with the German Physiological Society and participation in the European Regional Congress in Physiology (1984).

Former chairmen of the society are as follows:

1963-1966 Jonathan Magnes, Dept. of Physiology Hebrew University-Hadassah  Medical School

1966-1969 Prof.Felix Bergman, Dept of Pharmacology, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School

1969-1972 Prof. Habib Edery, Biological Institute, Ness Ziona

1972-1975 Prof. Robert Werman, Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University

1975-1978 Prof. Shimon Gitter, Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology, Tel Aviv University

1978-1981 Prof. Rami Rahamimoff, Dept. of Physiology Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School

1981-1984 Prof. Sasson Cohen, Biological Institute, Ness Ziona and Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology, Tel Aviv University

1984-1987 Prof. Yehuda Gutman, Dept of Pharmacology Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School

1987-1993 Prof. Shlomo Samuelov, Dept. of Physiology Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School

1993-1996 Prof. Dov Lichtenberg, Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology, Tel Aviv University

From 1996 the title “Chairman” of the society changed to “President” and the three presidents of the society since then have been:

1996-1999 Prof. David Lichtstein, Dept. of Physiology Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School

1999-2002 Prof. Arie Moran, Dept. of Physiology Ben Gurion Medical School, Beer-Sheva University

2002-2005 Prof. John Finberg, Dept. of Pharmacology Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa.

2005-Present Prof. Asher Shainberg  Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan


It is wonderful to see that after 40 years of activity the ISPP is still flourishing and deals with the cutting edge of research in Physiology and Pharmacology.


Contributed by:
Professor Rami Rahamimoff,
Physiology Dept.,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem