As Chief Medical Officer at Moderna, Israeli scientist Dr. Tal Zaks has helped lead the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Zaks’ leadership, Moderna produced the first mRNA vaccine to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Zaks has deep roots in Israel, where his father was once President of the Israeli Mathematical Union. Zaks served as a medic in the Israeli Defense Forces, where he became interested in patient care, and later earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva. Join Zaks for a conversation with Mattie Kahn, the Culture Director at Glamour, about his family background, his Jewish and Israeli identities, and his life-saving work on Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.