Prof. Zvia Breznitz

Prof. Zvia Breznitz passed away last May after a very courageous and difficult two and a half years of struggle with recurring cancer.

As the head of the Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, a professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, a gifted researcher and scientist, a visionary and as a kind and compassionate human being Zvia touched many lives.

Her contributions to the field of learning disabilities and her increasing focus on fluency and remediation research have changed the way professionals deal with dyslexia and opened new windows to neuro-behavioral research. Her dedication to her students, her friends and her compassion for the less fortunate in our society were without bounds.

Her ground breaking research led to Zvia's discovery on the acceleration and asynchrony phenomena in dyslexia. Based on these findings, Prof. Breznitz and her colleagues have developed a computerized reading remediation program, the Reading Acceleration Program (RAP) which in different languages is in use in Israel and in many countries across the world. This program is leading to novel ways for ameliorating the cognitive, academic and even social aspects of struggling readers of all ages.

Prof. Breznitz’s research work has been extensively published in academic journals and she was a frequently invited speaker at international forums. In addition to her research, Prof. Breznitz and her colleagues have led and developed a novel battery of assessment tests, for the diagnosis of learning disabilities in Hebrew and importantly, in Arabic. Along with her scientific and educational contributions, Prof. Breznitz has mentored generations doctoral students and young scholars in the field.

Prof. Breznitz's dream project was to make RAP-like programs, along with tablet computers, available for free to children in third world countries, to bring literacy to the millions who would otherwise not be able to become literate members of society.

Prof. Breznitz, wife, mother, grandmother, muse, scientist, mentor, teacher, colleague and friend will be sorely missed by all those who knew her.