Hossam Haick

Hossam Haick is the F.M.W. Academic Chair in the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Technion, head of the Laboratory for Nanomaterial-based Devices, and a faculty member of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion. He is an expert in the field of nanotechnology and a pioneer in the area of non-invasive disease diagnosis.

Prof. Haick made his mark at the age of 32 with the development of the Nano Artificial Nose. The Na-Nose uses nanosensors guided by artificial intelligence to detect the scent of more than 23 specific disease biomarkers in a person’s breath, including various cancers, kidney disease, and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. As of August 2020, he was furthering the award-winning breathalyzer technology to pick up the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, even in infected people who are asymptomatic.

Prof. Haick has registered more than 42 patents and launched multiple startups, including NanoVation, which manages chronic respiratory conditions, and Nanose Medical, which would bring the COVID-19-related tech to market. He has also developed a wearable health monitor system that can be attached to shirts, jewelry, and eyeglasses, allowing users to go about their days without interruption as the technology detects any signs of early disease.

His artificially intelligent nanoarray technology has earned him prestigious grants including the Marie Curie Excellence Grant, European Research Council grants, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Award. He has coordinated with many consortia including the LCAOS to develop a diagnostic test for lung cancer, and the EU’s Horizon2020 ICT consortium to develop the SniffPhone — a product that attaches to a smartphone and screens the user’s breath for early disease detection.

Prof. Haick has been named to more than 80 top-rank listings worldwide, including the “MIT Technology Review” list of 35 leading young scientists in the world, the “50 Sharpest Israeli Minds,” and GOOD Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. He has also received nearly four dozen prizes for his research, including a Knight of the Order of Academic Palms, conferred by the French government; the Advanced Alexander von Humboldt Research Award; the Hershel Rich Innovation Award; the Bergmann Award for Excellent Young Scientists; and the Technion’s Excellence Award in Teaching.

Prof. Haick was born in Nazareth, earned his bachelor’s degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1998, and his Ph.D. from the Technion in 2002. From 2002-2006, he did two postdoctoral fellowships, first at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and then at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he became interested in electronic noses. Prof. Haick returned to the Technion in 2006 and was promoted to full professor in 2011.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic time of social distancing, Prof. Haick traveled and spoke throughout Israel, encouraging students to dismiss prejudices in order to advance science and education. To this end, he became the first professor to develop a massive open online course, or MOOC, in both English and Arabic.