Dr. Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty
Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine
Dr. Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty
Georg-August-University
University Medical Center Göttingen
Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine
Humboldtallee 36
37073 Göttingen
Dr. Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty is a sociologist of medicine and has been a research associate at the Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University Medical Center Göttingen since March 2025. Since 2019, she has been a tenured member of the senior academic staff, at Sapir Academic College.
She holds a Ph.D. from Ben-Gurion University and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, UMG, from 2016 to 2019. For her post-doctoral research (“Timing Fertility - A comparative analysis of the relationship between time constructions and 'social freezing' in Germany and Israel”) she was awarded with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual-Fellowship (IF), the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the European Commission [grant agreement No. 749889] and the Minerva Stiftung Post-Doctoral Fellowship.
Her research interests include social, ethical and gender issues related to the beginning of life, reproductive technologies and cryopreservation (including concepts of personhood, parenthood, responsibility and temporality); as well as issues of representation and decision-making in patients and disability organizations. She has published articles on the various issues including abortion, the moral status of the embryo, egg freezing and the regulation of new reproductive technologies.
She is currently a team member of the research project: "The Legacy of Nazi Medicine in Contemporary Mental Health Ethics. Comparing three decades of debates in Germany and Israel, 1990-2020".
Career
- Since 2025: Research Associate, Department for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University Medical Center Göttingen. Research project: “The legacy of Nazi medicine in contemporary mental health ethics: Comparing three decades of debates in Germany and Israel 1990-2020” (PIs: Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz, Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, Dr. Rakefet Zalashik)
- October 2023-April 2024: Head of the MA Program in Human Resource Management and Development, Department of Human Resource Management Studies, Sapir Academic College
- Since 2022: Senior Lecturer, Department of Human Resource Management Studies, Sapir Academic College
- 2019-2022: Lecturer, Department of Human Resource Management Studies, Sapir Academic College
- 2016-2019: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and PI, Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University Medical Center Göttingen. Research project: “Timing Fertility - A comparative analysis of the relationship between time constructions and 'social freezing' in Germany and Israel” (Host: Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz)
- 2015-2017: Research Coordinator, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Research project: “Organized Patient Participation in Health Care: Collective Advocacy, Representation and Autonomy in Socio-Ethical Perspective” (PIs: Prof. Aviad E. Raz and Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz)
- 2014: Ph.D. Dissertation at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Title: “The influence of new medical technologies on per-ceptions of the “fetus” and “parenthood” among Israeli parents” (Advisors: Prof. Aviad E. Raz and Prof. Yael Hashiloni Dolev)
- 2010-2012: Research Assistant, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Research project: “Cross-cultural ethics of health and responsibility: Expert and lay perspectives regarding bioethical dilemmas in Germany and Israel” (PIs: Prof. Aviad E. Raz and Prof. Dr. Silke Schicktanz)
Research Areas
- Socio-ethical and gender issues in reproductive medicine
- Temporality and reproductive technologies
- Cross-cultural comparative bioethics
- Empirical bioethics
- Representation and advocacy in disability NGOs
Publications (selection)
Edited Special Journal Issues
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., & Schweda, M. (2023). Topical Collection: Biomedicine and life sciences as a challenge to human temporality. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences.
Jongsma, K., Rimon‐Zarfaty, N., Raz, A., & Schicktanz, S. (2018). Special Issue: Collective representation in healthcare policy, Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 15(3).
Articles in Refereed Journals
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Schweda, M. (2023). Editorial introduction: Biomedicine and life sciences as a challenge to human temporality. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 45, 3. doi: 10.1007/s40656-023-00557-8.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., & Schicktanz, S. (2022). The emergence of temporality in attitudes towards cryo-fertility: A case study comparing German and Israeli social egg freezing users. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 44(2), 19. doi: doi: 10.1007/s40656-022-00495-x.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Kostenzer, J., Sismuth, L.K., & de Bont, A. (2021). Between ’Medical’ and ’Social’ Egg Freezing: A Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Frameworks in Austria, Germany, Israel, and the Netherlands. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 18: 683-699. doi: 10.1007/s11673-021-10133-z.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Raz, A., Bar-Nadav, B., & Vaintropov, E. (2020). Collective Representation and the Founders’ Culture in the Israeli National Association for Autism. Voluntary Sector Review, 12(3), 313-331. doi: 10.1332/204080520X16050133060491.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N. & Schweda, M. (2018). Biological clocks, biographical schedules and generational cycles: Temporality in the ethics of assisted reproduction. Bioethica Forum, 11(4), 133-141.
Schicktanz, S., Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Raz, A., & Jongsma, K. (2018). Patient representation and advocacy for Alzheimer disease in Germany and Israel. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 15(3), 369-380. doi: 10.1007/s11673-018-9871-8.
Raz, A., Jongsma, K., Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Spaeth, E., Bar-Nadav, B., Vaintropov, E., & Schicktanz, S. (2018). Representing autism: Challenges of collective representation in German and Israeli associations for and of autistic people. Social Science & Medicine, 200, 65-72. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.024.
Inthorn, J., Schicktanz, S., Rimon-Zarfaty, N. & Raz, A. (2015). “What the patient wants”: Lay attitudes towards end-of-life decisions in Germany and Israel. Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy, 18(3), 329-340. doi:10.1007/s11019-014-9606-5.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., & Jotkowitz, A. (2012). The Israeli abortion committees’ process of decision making: An ethical analysis. Journal of Medical Ethics, 38(1), 26-30. doi: 10.1136/jme.2009.032797.
Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Raz, A., & Hashiloni-Dolev, Y. (2011). When does a fetus become a person? An Israeli viewpoint. Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare, 37(4), 216-224. doi:10.1136/jfprhc-2011-0110.
Chapters in Scientific Books
Rimon-Zarfaty, N. (2018). Parochial Altruism – Insights form a religion sensitive analysis of the Israeli surrogacy and egg-donation legislations. In: S. Mitra, T. Patel, & S. Schicktanz (Eds.), Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation: Interdisciplinary perspectives from India, Germany and Israel (pp. 371-393). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
Raz, A., Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Inthorn, J., & Schicktanz, S. (2014). Making responsible life plans: Attitudes towards the use of genetic testing for late-onset diseases. In G. Werner-Felmayer, S. Schicktanz, & B. Prainsack (Eds.), Genetics as social practice: Transdisciplinary views on science and culture (pp. 181-198). London, UK: Ashgate.
Other Scientific Publications
Hashiloni-Dolev, Y. & Rimon-Zarfaty, N. (2023). Egg Freezing in Israel: Legal Framework and Women’s Viewpoints. Bill of Health, Harvard Law School. blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/09/13/egg-freezing-in-israel-legal-framework-and-womens-viewpoints/
Rimon-Zarfaty, N. (2024). Review of Ethical Challenges of Organ Transplantation: Current Debates and International Perspectives. Bioethical Inquiry. doi.org/10.1007/s11673-023-10330-y
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