Dr. BJ Casey is the Sackler Professor and Director of the Sackler Institute and Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Neurology and Neuroscience at WCMC. She is a pioneer in novel uses of neuroimaging methodologies to examine human behavioral and brain development. Her program of research focuses on attention and affect regulation, particularly their development, disruption and neurobiological basis. She has been examining the normal development of brain circuitry involved in attention and behavioral regulation and how disruptions in these brain systems (prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum) can give rise to a number of developmental disorders. Most recently Casey and her colleagues have begun to examine the effects of gene-environment interactions on the development of affect and behavioral regulation and related brain systems. She is a member of the NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors, NARSAD Advisory Board and NYAS Fellow. For more information see: http://www.sacklerinstitute.org/cornell/people/bj.casey

Dr. Bernice Grafstein is Professor of Physiology & Biophysics and the Vincent and Brooke Astor Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience at WCMC. She received her B.A. in Physiology at the University of Toronto and her Ph.D. in neurophysiology at McGill University in Montreal. As a graduate student she trained as an electrophysiologist, working on structure-function correlations in the cerebral cortex. She subsequently became interested in nervous system development and regeneration, and is known for her work on intraneuronal and transneuronal transport in normal and regenerating neurons, as well as on non-synaptic cellular interactions in nervous tissue. She was the first woman to become President of the Society for Neuroscience and is currently a Trustee of the Grass Foundation and a member of the Council of the New York Hall of Science.

Dr. Charles Inturrisi is Professor of Pharmacology at Weill Medical College/Cornell. He also has appointments with the Pain and Palliative Care Service, MSKCC and in the Kreek lab at The Rockefeller University. His basic and clinical research interests are in the role of glutamate receptors in pain and in opioid tolerance, dependence and addictive behaviors. His research is directed at the discovery of new treatments for pain and drug addiction. Dr. Inturrisi has been teaching Cornell medical students about opioids for the past 36 years.

Dr. Ehud Lavi is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Chief of the Neuropathology Service at WCMC. He received his M.D. degree from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, followed by a Neurology residency at Hadassah Hospital- The Hebrew University School of Medicine in Jerusalem, Israel. He then did a research fellowship in Neurovirology, an Anatomic Pathology residency, and a Neuropathology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1991 he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Attending Neuropathologist until 2005 when he came to Cornell. Dr. Lavi’s laboratory is investigating the mechanisms of brain response to viral infections, and the pathogenesis of virus-induced experimental models of multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Peter M. Marzuk is Associate Dean, Professor of Psychiatry, and Attending Psychiatrist at WCMC/ New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He received his Sc.B. in physical chemistry from Brown University, his M.D. from Columbia University, and completed his residency training in medicine and psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and The New York Hospital-Payne Whitney Clinic. Dr Marzuk's scholarly interests center on suicide, homicide, violence and mood disorders. His research is directed at identifying epidemiological, clinical, neuropsychological and neurobiological predictors of suicidal behavior and violence with a goal toward prevention at both the individual and population-based levels. Prior to becoming Associate Dean, Dr Marzuk ran an in-patient mood disorders unit and a psychopharmacology clinic at Payne Whitney Clinic and was director of medical student education in the Department of Psychiatry. He has taught Weill-Cornell students psychopathology for almost twenty years, directing the psychopathology course before it became integrated into Brain and Mind in the mid-1990's.

Dr. Teresa A. Milner is Professor of Neuroscience at WCMC. She is a native Californian who obtained her Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 1982 from the University of California San Diego. Her ongoing research projects are: (1) the effects of the hormonal milieu in modulating hippocampal opioid systems; (2) the consequences of developmental ritalin exposure on rat brain chemical systems as well as adult neurogenesis; and (3) the effects of gonadal steroids on modulating brainstem pathways important in cardiovascular control. In addition to Brain and Mind, Dr. Milner also teaches chemical neuroanatomy in Neuron to Brain in the graduate school.

Dr. Estomih Mtui is an Associate Professor of Clinical Anatomy in Neurology and Neuroscience at WCMC. He also holds appointments as Associate Professor of Clinical Anatomy in Orthopedic Surgery with the Hospital for Special Surgery. His basic research interests focus on the collaborative investigation of neural networks within the central nervous system involved in the control of visceral reflex function during different phases of sleep-wake cycle and in response to pain and exercise. Other studies are focused on feedback circuits in the lower brainstem and spinal cord involved in cardiorespiratory reflex control that mediate nausea and vomiting, Immunocytochemical methods serve to identify the putative neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Of special interest is epinephrine, which plays a key role as a hormone and central neuro-mediator, in the tonic and reflex control of arterial blood pressure. Dr. Mtui has been teaching Gross Anatomy, Functional Neuroanatomy and Embryology to Cornell medical students since 1988. He has been a recipient of several major teaching awards including the Elliot Hochstein Teaching Award given by the medical graduating class of 2000.

Dr. Joseph Safdieh is Assistant Professor of Neurology at WCMC and Assistant Attending Neurologist at NYPH. He received his B.S. in neuroscience, as well as his M.D. degree from New York University. He completed his neurology residency at NYPH/Cornell, where he also served as Chief Resident. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. In addition to his involvement in Brain and Mind, Dr. Safdieh serves as the co-director of the Neurology Clerkship at WCMC and as medical director of the Neurology Clinic at NYPH. He also maintains an outpatient practice in general neurology. He has been recognized with various awards for his teaching achievements, including being selected as an Academic Neurology Teaching Fellow by the American Neurological Association and receiving a Teacher Recognition Certificate from the American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Robert Zimmerman received his M.D. from the Einstein College of Medicine in 1972 and was a radiology resident at Montefiore Medical Center from 1973 through 1976. Following a fellowship in Neuroradiology at the George Washington University Medical Center, he returned to Montefiore as an attending Neuroradiologist and Assistant Professor at Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Zimmerman moved to Cornell University and The New York Hospital in 1983. He is currently Vice Chair and Professor of Radiology at the WCMC and Director of Diagnostic Imaging at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Zimmerman's area of interest is adult Neuroradiology. He has authored publications on head trauma, MR features of hemorrhage, and CNS inflammatory disease. He has co-authored over 95 peer-reviewed publications, and 20 invited papers/book chapters. He is a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Neuroradiology and manuscript reviewer for 5 additional journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and Stroke.