Howard Chaim Cedar

Howard Cedar or Haim Cedar (Hebrew: חיים סידר; born January 12, 1943) is an Israeli American biochemist who worked on DNA methylation, the mechanism that turns genes on and off.

Cedar was born in the United States. He received a bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and, in 1970, received a MD and PhD from the New York University.

From 1970 to 1973, he worked for the U.S. Army’s Public Health Service and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

He joined the medical school of Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1973, and serves as a professor of the Department for Biochemistry and Genetics of Human Cell and Chairperson of the Department for Developmental Biology & Cancer Research, The Institute for Medical Research, Israel-Canada (IMRIC).

He is married to Zipporah, a drama therapist, and has six children, one of whom is Joseph Cedar, a film writer and director.

Awards and honours

• In 1999, Cedar was awarded the Israel Prize, for biology.
• In 2003, be became a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
• In 2008, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Medicine, jointly with Aharon Razin, "for their fundamental contributions to our understanding of the role of DNA methylation in the control of gene expression."
• In 2009, he was awarded the EMET Prize for his work in cancer research.
• In 2011 he received the Canada Gairdner Award from the Gairdner Foundation, together with Aharon Razin, for their "pioneering discoveries on DNA methylation and its role in gene expression."