Insight Labs Dean Jeff Leitner and his wife Angel recently attended an event in support of the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Israeli multidisciplinary scientific research center. A leading institution for the pursuit of fundamental sciences, Weizmann was recently named by The Scientist as the second best place in the world to work in academia outside the United States.

As Leitner told a Crain’s reporter during the event, Weizmann is addressing the social challenges of the future by positioning themselves “further out front than anyone else in the things we need to scale quickly—diabetes and schizophrenia research, water desalination.”

The Leitners as well as civil rights advocate Michael Bauer (pictured in the Crain’s photo above) appeared as guests of Coco Soodek, chair of the board of the Midwest Region of the Institute’s American Committee. Soodek was a participant in our Jan. 14 lab exploring the future of civic leadership in partnership with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Also on hand was Jennifer Stephen, veteran of our lab with the Executives Breakfast Club.