Rivka Carmi (; born 1948) is an Israeli pediatrician and geneticist. She served as President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) from May 2006 until December 2018. Carmi is the first woman to be appointed president of an Israeli university. Early life Carmi was born in Zikhron Ya'akov, Israel. Her mother, Zipora, was a social worker. Her father, Menachem, was an accountant, a painter and an amateur archaeologist who died when Carmi was 14 years old. She was an officer in the Israeli Defence Forces (Captain), and served as the commander of academics officers' training school. During the Yom Kippur War, she helped establish the missing in action (MIA) accounting unit in the IDF. Carmi is a graduate of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hadassah Medical School. She completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in neonatology at the Soroka University Medical Center and an additional fellowship in medical genetics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard University Medical School. Medical and academic career Carmi’s research focused mainly on the delineation of the clinical manifestations and molecular basis of genetic diseases in the Negev Arab-Bedouin population. Author of over 150 publications in medical genetics, her research included the identification of 12 new genes and the delineation of 2 new syndromes, one of which is known as the Carmi Syndrome. Carmi's first academic publication (1977) described an accumulation of carbon dioxide oxygen hoods, infant cots and incubators in possible relation with the sudden infant death syndrome phenomenon. Her community outreach projects were aimed at preventing hereditary diseases and advancing women's education in the Bedouin community. She was involved with the establishment of biotechnology initiatives at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and served as the Acting Director of the nascent National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. She served as President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) from May 2006 - December 2018. She succeeded Avishay Braverman, and was followed by Daniel Chamovitz. Public positions Carmi is a member of the Advisory Board of the Genesis Prize Foundation. She is a founding member of the UK-Israel Science Council and served as its co-chair alongside Professor Raymond Dwek in the years 2010-2017. On April 4, 2013, the Minister of Justice, MP Tzipi Livni, appointed Carmi to be part of the Rivlin Committee. The committee examined the compensation agreement for workers of the nuclear research facility in Dimona that were exposed to