Jessell Laboratory

Dr. Richard Mayeux is the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Epidemiology, chair of the Department of Neurology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Neurologist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Mayeux is also director of the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, a center devoted to the epidemiologic investigation of neurological diseases, and co-director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Mayeux graduated with distinction from the University of Oklahoma School of Health Sciences and trained in Internal Medicine at the Boston City Hospital and in Neurology at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. He completed a fellowship in the study of disorders of behavior, language, and cognition with the late D.Frank Benson in Boston. Dr. Mayeux completed graduate work in epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Mayeux has led a multidisciplinary, population-based investigation of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders known as the Washington Heights-Inwood Community Aging Project (WHICAP) since 1989. Utilizing this WHICAP population, he and his colleagues were among the first to integrate genetic risk factors and epidemiological principles in an attempt to identify biological markers of susceptibility to degenerative diseases of the aging nervous system. He has been the author of over 350 papers, chapters, and books dealing with various aspects of Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative diseases of the aging brain. Dr. Mayeux has been the Robert Aird Visiting Professor at the University of California at San Francisco, the Emanuel Goldberg Visiting Professor at the University of Rochester, and the J.L. Silversides Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto. He was the recipient of the Columbia University Dean's Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award, and received the Rita Hayworth Award from the Alzheimer's Association. Dr. Mayeux is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the New York Academy of Science, a member of the American Neurological Association and the Association of American Physicians. He is also a member of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease, the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and the Society for Neuroscience. He has served as a member of the Aging Review and the Epidemiology of Chronic Disorders Committees for the National Institutes of Health and the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board for the Alzheimer's Association. In 2001, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. He has received the 2007 Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology, the 2008 John Stearns Award for Lifetime Achievement in Medicine from the New York Academy of Medicine, and the 2009 Henry Wisniewski Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer's Disease Research from the Alzheimer's Association.

Dr. Ernst Garçon is board certified in diagnostic radiology with subspecialty training in neuroradiology. He is an associate professor of radiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and an attending radiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he is the associate chair of community outreach for the Department of Radiology. He also teaches and supervises radiology residents and medical students. Dr. Garçon has extensive experience in all aspects of neuroimaging and a clinical focus on non-vascular neurointerventional procedures and neurodegenerative imaging. He is a member of the Radiological Society of North America, American College of Radiology, American Society of Neuroradiology, and the American Society of Spine Radiology. Dr. Garçon's extensive global health work has led to significant improvements for diagnostic imaging in Haiti. In partnership with several global health foundations and organizations, he helped to develop Haiti's first radiology residency program and helped launch the first radiologic technologist program in the country. He has also organized and provided on-site radiology education for physicians and residents at the State University of Haiti Hospital in Port au Prince and has hosted several externships for Haitian residents at Columbia. Dr. Garçon is a co-chair of the Department of Radiology's Diversity Committee, promoting the recruitment and development of minority faculty. His work is focused on inspiring young students with disenfranchised backgrounds who are interested in medicine and wish to pursue a career in radiology.