Dr. Morick , who heads the department, is a veterinarian and researcher with 18 years of experience in marine animal medicine. In recent years, he has been leading research focused on understanding the causes of illness and mortality, as well as disease transmission among marine animals in the Mediterranean Sea. This research also includes understanding the impact of disease factors in marine agriculture systems. The Marine Pathology Laboratory, led by Dr. . Morick, also studies the effects of pollutants such as heavy metals on the health of marine animals. Using advanced technologies and molecular biology, this research generates extensive knowledge in a field that has been barely studied in our region and has implications for many areas, including marine ecology, nature conservation, and public health.

1999-2002: Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Biology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva,   Israel

2002-2006: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). University of Veterinary Medicine, Kosice, Slovakia (passed with great distinction).

2007-2012: PhD, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Rehovot. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

2012-2015: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

2017         : Certified Aquatic Veterinarian, World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA).

• Morick, D., Davidovich, N., Zemah-Shamir, Z., Bigal, E., Rokney, A., Ron, M., Scheinin, A. P. 2022. First Isolation and Characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae From a Stranded Wild Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis). Front. Mar. Sci, 9, 824071.‏
• Wosnick, N., Leite, R. D., Giareta, E. P., Morick, D., & Musyl, M. Global assessment of shark strandings. 2022, Fish and Fisheries, 23(4), 786-799.
• Itay P, Shemesh E,  Ofek-Lalzar M, Davidovich N, Kroin Y, Zrihan S, Stern N, Diamant A, Wosnick N,  Meron D, Tchernov D, Morick D. An Insight into Gill Microbiome of Eastern Mediterranean Wild Fish by Applying Next Generation Sequencing. Front. Mar. Sci. – Marine Conservation and Sustainability, 2023, DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2022.1008103.
• Morick D, Blum S, Davidovich N,  Zemah-Shamir Z, Bigal E, Itay P, Rokney A, Nasie I, Feldman N, Flecker M, Elasar M, Aharoni K, Zuriel Y,  Wosnick N, Tchernov D, Scheinin A, Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae Pneumonia in a dead stranded Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), in the eastern Mediterranean Sea., EID, emerging infectious diseases. 2023.
• Morick D, Bachmann VM, Shemesh E, Botero-Anug AM, Zemach-Shamir Z, Aizenberg Z, Davidovich N, Goldberg DW, Kan G, Ofri R, Tchernov D, Levy Y. Case report: Blindness associated with Learedius learedi trematode infection in a green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, of the northern Red Sea. Front Vet Sci. 2023 doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1258522.
• Davidovich N, Tedesco P, Caffara M, Luci V, Cantori A, Morick D, Fioravanti ML, Gustinelli A. Low prevalence of Contracaecum third-stage larvae parasitizing Sea of Galilee fisheries: 1-year survey after 57 years of no information. Food Waterborne Parasitol. 2023
• Davidovich N, Makhon A, Zizelski Valenci G, Dveyrin Z, Yahav T, Pretto T, Tchernov D, Morick D. Identification of Mycobacterium pseudoshottsii in the Eastern Mediterranean. Microbiol Spectr. 2023 . doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00856-23. Epub 2023 Jun 5.
• Starostinetsky-Malonek T, Scheinin A, Aroch I, Davidovich N, Bigal E, Livne L, Hauser-Davis RA, Wosnick N, Tchernov D, Morick D. First report on the serum chemistry and haematology of free-ranging dusky (Carcharhinus obscurus) and sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) sharks in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Conserv Physiol. 2023. eCollection 2023.
• Morick D, Davidovich N, Zemah-Shamir Z, Kroin Y, Bigal E, Sierra E, Segura-Göthlin S, Wosnick N, Hauser-Davis RA, Tchernov D, Scheinin AP. First description of a Gammaherpesvirus in a common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Vet Res Commun. 2023 Dec;47(4):2253-2258. doi: 10.1007/s11259-023-10125-x. Epub 2023 Apr 24.
• Bregman G, Lalzar M, Livne L, Bigal E, Zemah-Shamir Z, Morick D, Tchernov D, Scheinin A, Meron D. Preliminary study of shark microbiota at a unique mix-species shark aggregation site, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Front Microbiol. 2023 Feb 23;14:1027804. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1027804. eCollection 2023.
• Galili O, Goffman O, Roditi-Elasar M, Mevorach Y, Bigal E, Zuriel Y, Haitovich Y, Hadar N, Markovich M, Vardimon D, Reininger D, Marco S, Morick D, Ratner E, Tchernov D, Scheinin A. Two Decades of Coastal Dolphin Population Surveys in Israel, Eastern Mediterranean. Biology (Basel). 2023 Feb 17;12(2):328. doi: 10.3390/biology12020328.

Dr. Shani Levy heads the Coral Symbiosis and Immunology Lab. She earned her PhD in marine biology from the University of Haifa, where she studied molecular and developmental mechanisms in cnidarians. She continued with postdoctoral research at the University of Haifa and as a Marie Skłodowska Curie fellow at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. Her work has led to pioneering studies in coral biology, including the identification of immune cell types and the creation of single cell atlases across several coral species, enabling comprehensive characterization of all cell types and their gene expression programs.

Research in the lab focuses on symbiosis between corals and unicellular algae, on the responses of both partners to environmental stress together and separately, and on the coral innate immune system and its roles in maintaining symbiosis and in bleaching.