Weill Medical College of Cornell University

• Home
• Welcome from the Chair
• News and Events
• Publications
• Our Neurology Physicians
• Our Neuroscience Research Faculty

Welcome from the Chair

Matthew E. Fink, MD,
Interim

The Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is considered one of the premier academic neurology departments in the world. The Department has been led by some of the most notable figures in academic neurology of the 20th century, including R. Foster Kennedy, Harold Wolff and Fred Plum. A large number of current chairs of neurology in departments across North America were trained at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. Breakthrough research has been the cornerstone of our proud history, including the identification of levodopa for the treatment Parkinson's Disease, and fundamental research into human consciousness, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, genetic disorders, and epilepsy.

The Department currently has several thousand square feet of research space, 25,000 square feet of clinical outpatient office space, a 30-bed dedicated inpatient unit and an 11-bed Neurological Intensive Care Unit. Last year, our clinical neurologists had over 23,000 patient care visits in our offices. In 2008, five of our faculty members were voted "Best Doctors" in New York Magazine and US News and World Report ranked NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital services in neurology and neurosurgery #1 in New York City and #5 in the United States. Our Department attracts the best and brightest graduates of medical schools from around the world to our residency training program, and many of our trainees go on to lead other academic departments.

Our department continues to expand in all of its fundamental missions — treating patients with neurologic disorders, performing research, and teaching medical students and residents in Neurology.

One of the key missions of the department is to translate critical research advances discovered in our laboratories to benefit, treat and possibly cure a wide array of neurological diseases.

The department realized the following goals in the 2006-07 academic year.

1. In April 2007, the department opened the new Judith Jaffe Multiple Sclerosis Center in a new, state-of-the-art, 5000-square foot facility in the Weill Greenberg Center on York Ave. This exciting expansion has allowed us to recruit additional physicians and offer a fully integrated team approach to treat this complicated and difficult disease.
2. Dr. Neeta Roy, Dr. M. Flint Beal and others published a cutting-edge research article in Nature Medicine detailing how human embryonic stem cells can drive dopaminergic neurogenesis of cells to mediate substantial functional recovery in a model of Parkinson's Disease.
3. Dr. Niko Schiff received widespread news coverage on both television and in the press (NY Times) for his landmark study showing that deep brain stimulation in the thalamus produced marked behavioral improvement in a patient with severe traumatic brain injury.
4. Dr. Bogdonov, Dr. Susan Bressman and Dr. Beal have developed the first blood test to diagnose Parkinson's Disease.
5. Dr. Claire Henchcliffe and Dr. Beal have initiated the first clinical trial to attempt to slow the progression of Parkinson's Disease with coenzyme Q10.
6. Dr. Norman Relkin, head of the Memory Disorders Center, is completing a major phase II clinical trial to study the effects of immunoglobulin (IVIG) in an attempt to slow the progress of Alzheimer's Disease. A phase III clinical study has been approved and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The results of the initial studies look promising and the treatment has helped patients who suffer from Alzheimer's Disease.