Formerly Vice-President of the Weizmann Institute of Science (1988-1997), Prof. Arnon is a noted immunologist. Prof. Arnon joined the Institute in 1960. Prior to her appointment as Vice-President, she served as Head of the Department of Chemical Immunology, and as Dean of the Faculty of Biology. From 1985 to 1994, she was the Director of the Institute's MacArthur Center for Molecular Biology of Tropical Diseases. Prof. Arnon has made significant contributions to the fields of vaccine development, cancer research and to the study of parasitic diseases. Along with Prof. Michael Sela, she developed Copaxone® a drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and is presently marketed in the USA, Canada the EU, Australia and many other countries worldwide.

Prof. Arnon is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences, and was the Chairperson of its Sciences division from 1995-2001. On the world scene, she is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). She has served as President of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), and as Secretary-General of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS), and is presently a member of the European Union Research Advisory Board (EURAB) and served as the Senior Vice-President of the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia (AASA and she also served as the President of the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia (AASA).

Her awards include the Robert Koch Prize in Medical Sciences, Spain's Jiminez Diaz Memorial Prize, France's Legion of Honor, the Hadassah World Organization's Women of Distinction Award, the Wolf Prize for Medicine, the Rothschild Prize for Biology and the Israel Prize, Honorary Doctorate Tel-Hai University; Honorary Doctorate – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Honorary Doctorate – Tel-Aviv University, The AESKU Prize for Life Contribution to Autoimmunity by the 6th International Congress on Autoimmunity, Member of the American Philosophical Society; President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Oct 2010).