Yoel Yaari is the Henri and Erna Leir Professor for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine in Jerusalem, where he received his doctoral degree in 1975. He published numerous articles on basic molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurological diseases, particularly epilepsy. In 2017 he began also investigating Holocaust-related topics, focusing on the accounts of Jewish women serving as couriers between eastern European ghettos during World War II. He published several articles in public media about the contribution of these women to anti-Nazi Jewish resistance.