Pfizer CEO to be awarded honorary doctorate from Technion
Bourla, born to a Jewish family - part of whom were Holocaust survivors - in Thessaloniki in 1961, joined Pfizer in 1993.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: MARCH 3, 2021 18:41A person walks past the Pfizer Headquarters building in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 7, 2020(photo credit: CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS)
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology will be awarding an honorary doctorate to Pfizer CEO and Chairman Dr. Albert Bourla "for his extraordinary achievement in leading the record time development of the novel vaccine" against COVID-19.Bourla, born to a Jewish family - part of whom were Holocaust survivors - in Thessaloniki in 1961, joined Pfizer in 1993 later to climb the ranks through his 27-year career with the company to become its chief executive.His family arrived in Greece from Spain in the aftermath of the Alhambra Decree in the 15th century and were a part of the Thessaloniki Jewish community, which was the largest in Greece at one point. Around two-thirds of them died in the Holocaust.As CEO, Bourla lead Pfizer to become the first vaccine developer to launch a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, authorized for use by the FDA, the UK and the EU, as well as the Israeli Health Ministry - creating a beacon of hope for billions around the world who can finally imagine a light at the end of the tunnel."As Chairman of the Board of Pfizer Inc., Dr. Bourla headed the trailblazing effort to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus," said Technion President Professor Uri Sivan. "In his 27 years with Pfizer, Dr. Bourla promoted multiple areas within the company, among them technological innovation."The development of the COVID-19 vaccine is an extraordinary biotechnological achievement that exemplifies the importance of science and multidisciplinary research," Sivan added. "The vaccine, and similar ones, will bring healing to all of humanity and will rescue the world from the crisis that began at the end of 2019, with the epidemic outbreak. Dr. Bourla's family history, as a son of Holocaust survivors from Thessaloniki, is a symbol of the remarkable vitality of the Jewish people, their liveliness, and their renewal capacity in the wake of the Holocaust."Bourla received his PhD from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with the focus on veterinary medicine and reproductive biotechnology. With Pfizer, he initially oversaw antibody development and later served as Group President of Pfizer's Global Vaccines.He was appointed CEO of the pharmaceutical giant in 2018, and in 2020 he was named CEO amid the scramble to produce a safe and effective vaccine to fight against the novel coronavirus."I am moved by the news and honored to receive a degree from such an important and historical institution as the Technion," Dr. Bourla said to President Sivan during a phone call. "In my youth, I considered studying at the Technion; this is an emotional closure for me."
