Prof. Adi Kimchi is an Israeli scientist born in 1947 to parents who immigrated from Thessaloniki, Greece. After graduating from high school, Kimchi began an academic reserve and studied at the Tel Aviv University in the microbiology track. She completed her master's degree studies in 1970 and later served as an officer in the IDF Medical Corps, and after completing her Ph.D., Kimchi finished her doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University in 1977. She completed her post-doctorate in the Department of Virology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 1982 she was promoted to the rank of a senior researcher in the Department of Molecular Genetics, six years later, in 1988 she was promoted to the rank of associate professor and in 1997 to the rank of a full professor.
Between 2001-2006, Kimchi served as Head of the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute. She is also a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, a member of the European Academy of Cancer Research, a member of the European Academy of Sciences, the president's adviser for the advancement of women, and a guest researcher at the Whitehead Institute.