Dr. Rony Berger is a senior clinical psychologist who is an internationally recognized expert in dealing with the psychological preparation for and aftermath of terrorism and other major disasters as well as prejudice-reduction among ethnic groups in conflict. Dr. Berger is the co-director of the Center of Compassionate Mindful Education at Tel Aviv University as well as on the faculty of the Stress, Crisis and Trauma program at Tel Aviv University. He is also on the on the advisory board of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University where he assists in developing manuals to enhance community resiliency. Dr. Berger and Prof. Philip Zimbardo have been the PI's of a large de-radicalization international study on transformation from extremism into pro-sociality, a study that has been featured in an upcoming movie, the 10% (Michael Moore, Executive Director). Dr. Berger was on the faculty of Emergency Medicine at Ben Gurion University, a senior member of the PREPARED center for emergency response research. Dr. Berger has been invited to serve as an advisor in the De-radicalization program of Google. He has been lecturing on the topic and has participated in the International World Summit on Counter-Terrorism put together by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
Dr. Berger was the chief designer of a prejudice-reduction program for Palestinian and Jewish youth at the Arab-Jewish Community Center in Jaffa, a program that has been implemented with over a 1000 students. Three years research of this program has demonstrated its efficacy in reducing stereotypes and prejudices as well as enhancing pro-social behaviors.
Dr. Berger has also developed with the Dali Lama's team at the Mind and Life Institute a new educational program for both teachers and students, Call To Care, geared to cultivate compassion and pro-social orientation.
From 1999-2010 he was the director of the community services at Natal Trauma Center where he designed community programs to deal with the impact of war and terrorism and trained thousands of professionals in treating trauma survivors. During the period of 1997-2000, Dr. Berger was a Visiting Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Medicine at Al Quds University where he taught medical and graduate students and co-founder and director of the Palestinian Center for Traumatic Stress Studies. Additionally, he served as a senior researcher at the Harry Truman Center for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dr. Berger has lectured, consulted and held workshops for a wide range of world organizations including such as FEMA, Red Cross, CDC, DMHAS, WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR, EU and UNOCA and has led humanitarian delegations in the aftermath the ethnic conflicts & terrorism in Israel, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tanzania and Congo. He has published two books, wrote numerous articles in peer reviewed journals and authored several chapters on dealing with the aftermath of major disasters.
