Scientific Advisory Board

Eric R. Kandel, M.D., Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board and Co-Founder. Dr. Kandel is a University Professor of Neurobiology at Columbia University and Senior Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is the recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work in the field of learning and memory. He is the founding Director of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is a distinguished scientist in the field of memory and learning, and has received over forty scientific awards, including the Albert Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research for his pioneering work and major contributions to the molecular biology of memory acquisition and storage. He also received the Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research, the Distinguished Service Award of the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Medal of Science. He has published more than than 400 peer-reviewed scientific articles on the mechanisms involved in memory and learning and is the author or co-author of seven books, including Memory, From Mind to Molecules and Principles of Neural Science, the standard textbook in the field. Dr. Kandel received his M.D. from New York University. He majored in history and literature at Harvard College.

Walter Gilbert, Ph.D., Director, Scientific Advisory Board Member and Co-Founder, is a Managing Director of BioVentures Investors. Previously the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University, Dr. Gilbert was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the development of DNA sequencing methodology. He was a founder, Chairman and CEO of Biogen, Inc., and co-founder of Myriad Genetics, Inc., where he is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors. He has held professorships at Harvard University in the department of Physics, Biophysics, Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Molecular and Cellular Biology. He was elected Member of the National Academy of Science in 1976.

René Hen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacology at Columbia University and in the Center of Neurobiology and Behavior, New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Hen is best known for his work in the molecular and behavioral effects of serotonin, especially in the area of depression and anxiety, and has generated a large number of knockout and transgenic mice in those areas. Dr. Hen is the recipient of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Neuroscience Award.

Hans-Jürgen Hess, Ph.D., Formerly Vice President of Medicinal Products Research at Pfizer, Inc. led for many years their drug discovery efforts in the United States and built and directed the Pfizer drug discovery operations in Japan. He received the Drug Discoverer's Award of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association for his pioneering work on the discovery of prazosin (Minipress) and subsequent drug discovery leadership, and is named an inventor on approximately 100 issued U.S. patents.

Richard P. Mayeux, M.D., Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Public Health at Columbia University and Co-Director, The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain. He received his M.D. in 1972 and his B.S. in 1968, both from Oklahoma State University.

Steven Siegelbaum, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Siegelbaum is a leading scientist in the physiology and pharmacology of memory and learning functions in the mammalian brain. He combines electrophysiological techniques with molecular pharmacological tools to address the effects involved in normal brain (hippocampus) aging on learning and memory functions. He received the Herbert J. Kaydon Award in biomedical sciences of the New York Academy of Medicine.

Scott Small, M.D., Herbert Irving Assistant Professor in Neurology at Columbia University and Taub Scholar at the Taub Institute. With a background in cellular physiology, Dr. Small has focused on using new imaging modalities to investigate both normal and pathological mechanisms of the brain. Dr. Small was the first investigator at Columbia University to use functional magnetic resonace imaging (fMRI), and he led a team of investigators who published the first paper showing the utility of fMRI for detecting Alzheimer’s disease and for characterizing memory decline in the aging population. More recently, he has developed a novel high-resolution application of fMRI, which can be used to investigate physiologic dysfunction in the mouse brain.

Larry R. Squire, Ph.D., University Professor, VA Medical Center in La Jolla, California, and a Professor at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Squire is a leading scientist in the field of human and non-human primate memory. A former President of the Society of Neuroscience, he has helped define the basic distinction between the declarative and non-declarative memory systems of the brain. Dr. Squire sits on the editorial board of Learning & Memory Journal and on the board of directors of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. He was elected Member of the National Academy of Science in 1993. He is the co-author of Memory, From Mind to Molecules.