Biography & Research:
I am the Florence Irving Professor of Neuropsychology (in Neurology, Psychiatry, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute) at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. I am chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division in the Department of Neurology. My research focuses on cognition in normal aging and diseases of aging, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. A strong theme in my research has been exploring individual differences in task performance in general and, more specifically, the reason why some individuals show more cognitive deficit than others in the face of brain insult. This has led to the cognitive reserve hypothesis, which provides rationale for intervening to improve cognitive aging. I direct the Reference Ability Neural Network study, a large-scale longitudinal study designed to isolate brain activation and morphological features associated with specific cognitive abilities. I also have direct a long-term study of the heterogeneity of Alzheimer’s disease progression, resulting in a models of disease progression that can incorporate disease endpoints and cost.