An interview with Professor Rivka Carmi, founding president of the Israeli National Academy of Science in Medicine by the IMA, at the 2025 ITRn conference. Professor Carmi discusses the structural challenges doctors in Israel face when trying to conduct research—such as lack of dedicated time, infrastructure, and institutional support—and how these barriers are slowly being dismantled through national initiatives. Through engaging examples, she explains the special contribution of researchers who are also clinicians, emphasizing the value of “bed-bench-bed” translational research that begins at the patient’s bedside and returns there with meaningful solutions.