Faculty
David Silbersweig, M.D. graduated from Dartmouth College with high honors in philosophy. He studied medicine at Cornell University Medical College. He trained in both psychiatry and neurology at The New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, and in functional brain imaging research at The Medical Research Council Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London.
Drs. Silbersweig and Dr. Emily Stern then returned to Cornell, to found and direct the Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory. Dr. Silbersweig is also the founding director of the Division of Neuropsychiatry, as well as of the Neurology-Psychiatry Combined Residency Program at Cornell. He is the Tobin-Cooper Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Neurology, and is Vice Chairman, for Research, in the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Silbersweig is one of the pioneers of functional neuroimaging research in psychiatry. He and his colleagues focus upon the development and application of new neuroimaging techniques to localize and characterize brain circuitry dysfunction underlying major psychiatric disorders. They have developed novel methods and paradigms for both PET and MRI imaging that are widely used, and have identified neural circuitry abnormalities associated with major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, major depression, geriatric depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD and borderline personality disorder. A particular area of focus is fronto-limbic modulation across the neuropsychiatric spectrum. Studies combining neuroimaging with therapeutic and genetic studies are now underway.
Dr. Silbersweig and his colleagues have published numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles in leading journals, including first reports localizing brain abnormalities associated with psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia, and with tics in Tourette syndrome. Dr. Silbersweig has received many awards, and is actively involved in shaping this emerging field of biomedical research, and the rapidly advancing field of neuropsychiatry, through his scientific work and writings, his involvement in national/international research consortia, his extensive teaching/training activities, his invited presentations in the United States and abroad, and his work with scientific journals, NIH, conferences and organizations. The aim of Dr. Silbersweig’s systems-level neuropathophysiology work is to help provide a foundation for the development of novel, targeted, biologically based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to aid those suffering with mental illness.
Jane Epstein, M.D. is Director of Neuropsychiatry Clinical Services and Curriculum, Associate Director of the Neurology-Psychiatry Combined Residency Program, and Associate Director of the Division of Neuropsychiatry. She is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and an Associate Attending Psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell.
Dr. Epstein received her bachelor's degree from Princeton University and her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, followed by a residency in psychiatry at the New York Hospital. She completed postgraduate fellowships in schizophrenia research at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and in Behavioral Neurology and Geropsychiatry at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
Dr. Epstein is an investigator in Weill/Cornell's Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, where she conducts research on neural correlates and neurocognitive aspects of conscious and nonconscious affective processing in normal and psychiatric populations. She is particularly interested in hierarchical aspects of brain function. Her clinical practice focuses on the evaluation and treatment of emotional, cognitive and behavioral symptoms which can accompany brain disease, either as a direct result of the neuropathology or as a part of the individual's response to it.
Tracy Butler, M.D. is a faculty member of the Division of Neuropsychiatry. She is an Assistant Professor of Neurology in Neurology and Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and an Assistant Attending Neurologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell. She is also a member of the Cornell Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.
Dr. Butler received her bachelor's degree in philosophy and neuroscience from Amherst College and her medical degree from Columbia University, followed by a residency in Neurology at Columbia. She completed an NIH-supported postgraduate research fellowship in Functional Neuroimaging of Neuropsychiatric Disorders at Cornell, as well as a clinical fellowship in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Columbia.
Dr. Butler is an investigator in Weill/Cornell's Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, where her research uses functional MRI (fMRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and complementary methods to better understand neuropsychiatric disorders, focusing on those related to epilepsy, with attention to possible sex differences in patterns of neural activity. Her clinical practice is limited to evaluation of patients with known or suspected neurologic disorders hospitalized at the Westchester Division of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, a psychiatric facility.
Daniel Herrera, M.D., Ph.D. is Director of the Laboratory of Brain Repair and Biological Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell.
Dr. Herrera received his medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He completed a medical internship at Yale University and residency training in both neurology and psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell. Dr. Herrera also holds an M.Sc. from Dalhousie University and a Ph.D from McGill University, Canada. He completed his postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University.
Dr. Herrera has received numerous awards for his research and scholarship. His research focuses on neural stem cells in the adult brain: how oxidative stress (including alcohol) might affect these cells, and how these cells might be used, ultimately, to repair the brain. His clinical practice focuses on the differential diagnosis and treatment of inpatients with behavioral disorders involving possible neurologic contributants.
Bruce Leuchter, M.D. is the attending physician for the Neuropsychiatry Inpatient Service and Neuropsychiatry Outpatient Clinic at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell. He holds appointments as an Instructor in Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and as an Assistant Attending Psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Dr. Leuchter graduated from the University of Michigan with Honors with High Distinction, and earned his medical degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine, and a combined residency in both Neurology and Psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell.
Dr. Leuchter’s clinical interests include Neuropsychopharmacology, Neurocognitive Assessments, ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders, and Clinical Neuropsychiatry. His research interests include investigating the relationship between the brain and behavior through the study of Neuropharmacology and Neurophysiology.
Dedicated to teaching and academic medicine, Dr. Leuchter serves as Medical Advisor to a leading medical education company, and as Faculty Reviewer for a nationally recognized board review textbook. He has authored chapters for text books in Neuropsychiatry, presented posters at major scientific meetings, and written articles for the lay press.
James Root, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry within the Division of Neuropsychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is the attending neuropsychologist on the Rehabilitation Inpatient Unit and a research scientist in the Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory. Dr. Root completed his postdoctoral training in clinical and forensic neuropsychology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and predoctoral residency in neuropsychology at Yale University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Dr. Root's main areas of research interest include the neuropsychology of emotion and the neural substrates of affective and cognitive processing in neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Root also studies the use of neuropsychological measures in their clinical application and in their utility in classification of cognitive and neurological disorders.
Dr. Root's clinical expertise focuses on the evaluation of adults and adolescents presenting with wide ranging cognitive, neurologic and psychiatric difficulties, including disorders of attention, memory and learning, traumatic brain injury and dementing conditions. |
