About Farber > Scientific Advisory Board
Scientific Advisory Board
The Scientific Advisory Board of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences of Thomas Jefferson
University consists of preeminent leaders in neurological research whose expertise encompasses
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as stroke and spinal
cord injury. The Board is charged with external oversight of scientific research conducted at the
Farber Institute.
Chairman
Paul Greengard, Ph.D., is Vincent Astor Professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular
Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University in New York. He won the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
for his discovery of how dopamine and a number of other chemicals in the brain exert their action in the nervous
system. Greengard received a Ph.D. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 1953, and completed
postdoctoral studies at the University of London, Cambridge University, and the National Institute of Medical
Research, all in England, and at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
Chairman Pro Tempore
John Hardy, Ph.D., is a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National
Institute on Aging, one of the National Institutes of Health. Hardy is a human geneticist and molecular biologist
whose research interests focus on neurological disease; his laboratory performs genome screens to identify
genes involved in neurodegenerative illnesses and stroke. He discovered the first gene conclusively linked to a
rare familial form of Alzheimer’s disease. He received his B.Sc. degree with honors from the University of Leeds,
United Kingdom, and his Ph.D. from Imperial College in London, England.
Founding Members
Robert E. Burke, M.D., is Professor of Neurology and Pathology, and Director of Laboratory Research in
Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders at Columbia University’s Neurological Institute of New York. His
research focus is on basic neuroscience related to the cause and pathogenesis of movement disorders, particularly
Parkinson’s disease. He is board-certified in neurology and holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College, and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College.
Dennis Choi, M.D., Ph.D., is Executive Vice President, Neurosciences, at Merck Research Laboratories. Prior
to joining Merck, he was Professor and Chairman of Neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis, where he continues to hold an adjunct professorship. He was also Founding Director of the
University’s Center for the Study of Nervous System Injury. Choi graduated magna cum laude in biochemistry
from Harvard College. He earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Harvard University and his M.D. from Harvard
Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
A. Nadeem Ishaque, M.D., is the advanced technology leader for GE’s global research initiative in biotechnology
and molecular medicine, one of the largest activities at the company’s Global Research Center in
Niskayuna, N.Y. He currently serves on the scientific review board of the Institute for the Study on Aging (ISOA)
and the Northeast Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. He earned his B.E. degree in electrical engineering
from NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, Pakistan, and his Ph.D., also in electrical engineering,
from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
Mary Mittelman, Dr. P.H., is Director of the Psychosocial Research and Support Program at New York
University School of Medicine's William and Sylvia Silberstein Institute for Aging and Dementia, and Research
Associate Professor in Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine. Her research interests focus on psychosocial
interventions for people with Alzheimer’s disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment and their family members. She
received her training in psychiatric epidemiology and biostatistics at the School of Public Health of the Columbia
University School of Medicine in New York.
Gavril W. Pasternak, M.D., Ph.D., heads the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology at Sloan-Kettering Institute,
the basic science research arm of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He holds professorships
in Neurology and Neuroscience, Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Psychiatry at Cornell
University Medical College, and is an attending neurologist at Memorial and New York Hospitals. Pasternak
earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and is board-certified in neurology.
Jeffrey David Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and a faculty member of
the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. He is
also the Director of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, Co-Director of the MDA/ALS
Clinic, and Vice Chairman for Research in the Department of Neurology. Rothstein holds an M.A. in neurochemistry
from the University of Chicago, a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Illinois
Health Sciences Center, and an M.D. from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, all in Chicago.
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