Neuroscience Research at Columbia

Columbia University is one of the world’s great research institutions. In that tradition, the Department of Neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York consistently ranks among neurology departments with the largest amounts of NIH support. Our training program offers many opportunities for residents to be exposed to, and participate in, the finest laboratory and clinical research. We believe strongly that the future of medicine lies in the successful grafting of basic biomedical science to clinical disciplines. As a result, we are committed to introducing neurology residents to research in ways that emphasize the integral nature of basic discovery, translational development, and clinical application, including experimental therapeutics. This is done both formally through three NIH-sponsored training grants and a voluntary mentoring program in clinical research, as well as informally on a day-to-day basis through interactions with faculty members and postdoctoral fellows who are actively involved in research. While the fundamental focus of any residency must be on clinical competence, we also seek to expose residents at a critical stage in their development to the gratifications of investigation, whether patient-based or laboratory, and how investigation and clinical practice can be married successfully.

Research faculty members

On the right are some of the major research areas and research groups in a or affiliated with in the Department of Neurology. Clicking on one of these lists faculty members with their research interests, (and, often, individual or laboratory websites), as well as faculty in related departments involved in neuroscience research. Opportunities for research experience include clinical, translational and basic laboratory neuroscience. Clinical disciplines include controlled therapeutic trials, application of new technology, cognitive neurobiology, and population studies. Laboratory research includes cellular and molecular biology, developmental neurobiology, cellular and systems neurobiology, cellular/molecular pharmacology and neural stem cells as applied to basic studies of human neurological disease.