Neuropathology Fellowship

This program, accredited by the ACGME, qualifies candidates for board certification in neuropathology and prepares them for academic careers in diagnostic neuropathology and research. Fellows spend two years in the Division of Neuropathology. The division examines all nervous system tissues from biopsies and autopsies at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. This large and varied volume of material is supplemented by brains sent to Columbia for consultation, particularly in the areas of neurodegenerative diseases. There is a large volume of neurosurgical specimens (about 1,800 per year) that include tumors, brain biopsies for a variety of non-tumor diagnostics, and muscle and nerve biopsies, the latter group the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Fellows examine all specimens and sign out daily with an attending physician. Teaching conferences are held regularly, including weekly brain cuttings, weekly microscopic conferences to review surgical and autopsy cases with all of the staff, weekly brain tumor board conferences, muscle biopsy reviews, and CPCs. Neuropathology fellows, along with residents from Pathology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, organize and present material at most of the conferences. Centralized departmental laboratories for molecular diagnostics and immunocytochemistry, and departmental initiative to develop digital pathology facilitate the use of these techniques for studying specimens. In general, fellows will be expected to spend much of the first year in clinical studies. The second year will be spent in either laboratory-based research or in depth clinical diagnostic work, in affiliation with a faculty member.  Those trainees who wish to pursue laboratory-based research will be able to take an extra year for a program of full-time investigative work.

Requirements

At least 2 years of training in anatomic pathology.

Visas

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center will only accept J1 visas.

Types and Numbers of Appointments

Up to two positions are available per academic year.

Facilities

In addition to a busy and widely diverse clinical service, the Division of Neuropathology and the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology contain a large number of neuroscience research programs. Particular areas of strength include developmental neurobiology, cellular interactions in brain development, growth factors, cytoskeletal protein chemistry and molecular biology, myelination, epilepsy, neuro-oncology, particularly glial neoplasms, and neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer's, Huntington’s, ALS, and Parkinson's diseases. The department has close ties to the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry and the Department of Neuroscience. Many of our members belong to the interdisciplinary Taub Center for Alzheimer Disease and the Aging Brain. A number of our faculty also belong to the Columbia University Stem Cell Initiative and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Thus, we are involved in a large number of excellent programs in neuroscience research at Columbia. The technologies at Columbia in molecular diagnostics, genomic sequencing, and systems biology analysis have contributed substantially to our abilities to investigate pathology specimens in great detail. The Neuropathology Division and the Taub Center run the New York Brain Bank, which collects and stores frozen and fixed samples from autopsy brains for use for molecular and pathological studies and disperses many samples globally.

Program Contact

James Goldman, MD, PhD
Program Director, Neuropathology Fellowship
Columbia University Medical Center
Department of Pathology and Cell Biology
630 West 168th Street, PH15-Stem 124
New York, NY 10032
Email: jeg5@cumc.columbia.edu

Marquis Fuse, MM
Program Coordinator
Manager, Education Programs
Department of Pathology and Cell Biology
Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital
630 West 168th Street, PH 1587, New York, NY 10032
Tel: 212 305-9173 | Email: mlf2209@cumc.columbia.edu