| 1 | Name: | Dr. Gerald D. Fischbach | |
| Institution: | Columbia University | ||
| Year Elected: | 2003 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 208. Plant Sciences | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1938 | ||
Gerald Fischbach received an M.D. at Cornell University Medical School in 1965. Dr. Fischbach was Edison Professor of Neurobiology at the Washington University School of Medicine from 1981-90 and served as chief of the Neurobiology Department of Massachusetts General Hospital and Nathan Pusey Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School from 1990-98. In 1998 he was appointed Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health. He joined the faculty of Columbia University in 2001 and served as Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor of the University before assuming his current role as John E. Borne Professor of Medical and Surgical Research. In 2006 he joined the Simons Foundation as their Scientific Director. Gerald Fischbach pioneered the field of synapse formation with the dramatic discovery that motor neurons form functional synapses with muscle cells in dissociated cell culture. This brilliant advance revolutionized the study of neuronal development in general, and synapse formation in particular, permitting Dr. Fischbach to solve many key problems about the synaptic organization of CNS neurons. Dr. Fischbach showed that motor nerves induce Adh receptor expression at sites of neurotransmitter release, through the release of a diffusible factor, cloned the gene encoding this factor, and identified it as Neuregulin. This discovery represented a landmark in the neurosciences: the delineation of a molecule that directs synapse organization. Dr. Fischbach's studies have transformed the study of synapse formation from a purely physiological field to one that is now in the mainstream of cell and molecular biology. His visionary use of neuronal cell culture has served as a prototype for studies of how synapses form between CNS neurons, and how synaptic plasticity is regulated. Dr. Fischbach received the Foundation Ipsen Neuronal Plasticity Prize in 1998, the Nathan Davis Award in 2000, and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation Honor for Contributions in 2003. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the Society of Neuroscience, where he served as president from 1983-84. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2003. Web Link 1: simonsfoundation.org | |||