Mount Sinai Hospital physician Bernard Sachs, MD, publishes first description in U.S. of ‘Familial Amaurotic Idiocy,’ later known as Tay-Sachs Disease.

In-patient Neurological Service established; first in a New York hospital; 12 beds; Dr. Sachs made Attending.

Mental Health Clinic formed, perhaps the first psychiatry clinic in a private general hospital; established at MSH by Clarence Oberndorf, MD.

Leo Loewe, MD, and Israel Strauss, MD, describe the first experimental transmission of encephalitis lethargica.

Sidney W. Gross, MD, is the first to use water-soluble contrast media in myelography.

Rosalyn Yalow, PhD, a professor of medicine at Mount Sinai, receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the invention of the radioimmunoassay.

Marion Orlowski and Sherman Wilk discover the proteasome (multicatalytic protease), the major regulated mechanism for protein degradation in the cell.

Alzheimer's Disease Research Center

James L. Roberts, PhD, recruited to Mount Sinai.

Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Center for Neurobiology of Aging established as a basic science division to investigate the molecular mechanisms for various neurobiological phenomena particularly as they relate to aging.

John H. Morrison, PhD, is recruited to Mount Sinai to serve as co-director of the Fishberg Center alongside James L. Roberts, PhD.

The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment

Eric J Nestler, MD, PhD, is elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Dennis S Charney, MD, is elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Kenneth L Davis, MD, is elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

The Fishberg Center and other neuroscience laboratories on campus joined to form the Department of Neuroscience, with Dr. Morrison serving as founding Chair.

The Black Family Stem Cell Institute.

Patrick Hof, MD, named Vice-chair of the Department of Neuroscience.

The Graduate School begins offering a new PhD program in Neuroscience.

Drug Discovery Institute.

Patrick Hof, John Morrison: Demonstrated the protective effects of estrogen on cortical pyramidal neurons, associated with improved cognitive function, in females across animal species.

Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, named Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Director of the newly formed Mount Sinai Brain Institute.

Helen S Mayberg, MD, is elected to National Academy of Medicine.

Sam Gandy, Michelle Ehrlich: Provided evidence that the neuropathology caused by amyloid beta protein (Aß) is mediated in large part by protein oligomers as opposed to amyloid plaques as previously thought.

The naming of The Friedman Brain Institute is celebrated on May 4th; named for a founding gift by Susan and Richard A. Friedman.

Icahn Genomics Institute.

Barbara G Vickrey: elected National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

Lauren Friedman and fellow graduate students launch the Sinai Neuroscience Outreach Program (SNOP). In 2015, SNOP re-branded itself as MiNDS (Mentoring in Neuroscience Discovery). The program hosts a series of public lectures, sheep brain dissections, laboratory tours, brain fairs, and classroom courses with the mission of reducing the barrier of entry into the sciences.

Pamela Sklar, MD, PhD, creates the Division of Psychiatric Genomics within the Departments Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Genetics and Genomic Sciences.

Dennis Charney: Development of ketamine as a novel, rapidly-acting antidepressant—the first antidepressant approved by the U.S. FDA (in 2019) with a non-monoamide-based mechanism of action.

Neurosurgery Simulation Core.

The Brain Imaging Center is created to serve as a bridge between The Friedman Brain Institute and the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute.

The Glickenhaus Center for Successful Aging established by Sarah and Seth Glickenhaus to understanding how the brain ages, why some people remain cognitively intact despite very advanced age.

A new technique for administering ketamine, a drug that can effectively treat depression in a matter of hours, demonstrates that it can be rapidly effective in reversing suicidal thoughts, as founded by researchers led by Dennis Charney, MD.

Art of the Brain - Founded and curated by Veronica Szarejko as part of Brain Awareness Week and Mount Sinai's Community Outreach Initiative, the "Art of the Brain" is an exhibition of photographs, sculptures and paintings that celebrates the depth and beauty of the brain as seen through the eyes of The Friedman Brain Institute’s leading researchers. This annual event increases public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research.

Yasmin Hurd, Schahram Akbarian, Eric Nestler: Elaborated epigenetic mechanisms that mediate the lasting effects of drugs of abuse and chronic stress on the brain and their relevance to human drug addiction and depression.

Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease established in memory of Daniel S. Loeb’s father, Ronald M. Loeb. Alison Goate, PhD, was recruited to Mount Sinai as founding Director of the Center.

Joseph D Buxbaum, PhD, is elected to National Academy of Medicine.

Barbara Vickrey named Chair of Neurology

Center for Molecular Integrative Neuroresilience

Alison M Goate, DPhil, is elected to National Academy of Medicine.

Paul J. Kenny, PhD, is appointed Chair of the Department of Neuroscience.

Rene Kahn named Chair of Psychiatry

Helen Mayberg: Development of deep brain stimulation as a treatment for severe depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

Eric Nestler, Scott Russo: Demonstration of profound sex differences in molecular abnormalities that define depression in humans and the actions of chronic stress in rodent models.

Anne Schaefer: Demonstration that IL-34 secreted by neurons recruits microglia to exert homeostatic regulation over their activity. Deficits in this process can lead to hyperexcitability and neuronal cell death.

Pamela Sklar, Alex Charney: Led multi-institutional Psychiatric GWAS Consortium Bipolar Disorder Working Group in studies on bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and identified numerous novel genes that confer risk for these disorders.

Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai (AIMS) established with Yasmin Hurd, PhD, named as its founding Director.

Yasmin Hurd, PhD, elected to National Academy of Medicine.

Several new Centers created by the Department of Neuroscience and The Friedman Brain Institute: Scott Russo, PhD, establishes and leads a new Center for Affective Neuroscience; Paul Slesinger, PhD, establishes and leads a new Center for Neurotechnology and Behavior; and; Anne Schaefer, MD, PhD, and Patrizia Casaccia, MD, PhD, establishes and leads a new Center for Glial Biology of Mount Sinai and CUNY.

Alison Goate: Discovery that myeloid cells and microglia-enriched genes are central to the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which has dramatically changed the search for new AD therapeutics.

Zhenyu Yue, Joseph Buxbaum, Greg Elder, Deanna Benson, George Huntley: Among the first to discover how mutations in the LRRK2 gene causes familial Parkinson’s disease by regulating dopamine transmission and reducing the normal function of the gene.

Development of computational methods to analyze genome-wide data and identify gene networks implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and other neuropsychiatric syndromes.

Advanced Neuroimaging Research Program.

Helen S. Mayberg, MD, appointed Director of the newly established Nash Family Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics as a novel joint effort by the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience and The Friedman Brain Institute.

The Department of Neuroscience is renamed the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience in recognition of decades of transformational philanthropic support by the Nash Family.

The Lipschultz Center for Cognitive Neuroscience

This Center will focus on understanding the neural mechanisms of higher cognitive function, and applying this knowledge to the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of cognitive function in humans.

Director: Mark Baxter, PhD

Nash Family Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics

Advancing precision surgical treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders through the rapid translation of neuroscience and neuroengineering innovations that correct brain circuit abnormalities and restore mood, motor, and cognitive functioning.

Director: Helen S. Mayberg, MD

The Nash Family Department of Neuroscience is ranked #1 in NIH funding.

Anne Schaefer, MD, PhD, named Vice-Chair of the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience.

Two new Centers are created by the Department of Neuroscience and The Friedman Brain Institute: Mark G. Baxter, PhD, establishes and leads the Lipschultz Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Kristen Brennand, PhD, establishes and leads the Alper Center for Neural Stem Cell Research.

Center for Computational Psychiatry

Dedicated to deepening our understanding of how both algorithms and the brain’s biology can contribute to what we know about mental health issues such as addiction, eating disorders, autism, and personality disorders.

Director: Xiaosi Gu, PhD

Bonnie and Tom Strauss Movement Disorders Center

This new Center (founded in late 2019), which is directed by Susan Bressman and Brian Koppell, will coordinate and integrate all research, education, and patient care around movement disorders within the Mount Sinai Health System.

Directors: Susan Bressman, MD Brian Kopell, MD

Alper Center for Neural Development and Regeneration

The first human embryonic stem cell lines were grown by Dr. James Thomson in Wisconsin in 1998. These cells had the ability to make every cell type in the body, an unlimited source of material, but scientists couldn’t yet use them to study genetic disease.

Director: Nan Yang, PhD

Rachel Yehuda: elected National Academy of Medicine (NAM)

Scott Russo: Delineation of the contribution of peripheral immune mechanisms, and disruption of the blood-brain barrier, in mediating stress susceptibility in animal models and depression in humans.

Ian Maze: Discovery that monoamine neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, dopamine, histamine) can serve as chemical donors for post-translational modifications of histone proteins and the implication of these novel mechanisms in depression and drug addiction.

Joe Castellano: Discovery of blood-borne factors that are protective against aging.

Paul Slesinger: Development of novel probes to study the in vivo functioning of neuropeptides in the brain.

John Crary: Description of a variant of Alzheimer’s disease that lacks amyloid deposition.

BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute.

The Institute for Genomic Health.

Neuroscience Postdoc Association: The NPA started in 2019. It was spearheaded by Kirstie Cummings, with initial members being myself, Xiaofan Li, Anthony Lacagnina, Yanqing Wang, Chrystian Junquiera-Alves, Yanqing Wang and Macarena Gomez

Dennis S. Charney: elected National Academy of Medicine (NAM)

Nan Yang, Joel Blanchard, Kristen Brennand: Establishing human cell and organoid model systems to functionally dissect the contribution of risk genes to molecular and cellular phenotypes for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Panos Roussos: Characterization of the contribution of human brain cell-type-specific regulatory mechanisms in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease by use of innovative single-cell sequencing methods.

Nadia Tsankova: Identification of epigenetic factors that control the spread of glioblastoma.

Kirstie Cummings, PhD awarded the 2020 Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.

Center for Neural Epigenome Engineering

Angélica Torres-Berrío: Winner of Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.

Ian S Maze, PhD selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator.

Denise Cai, Tristan Shuman: Development of miniscopes to track the in vivo activity of thousands of neurons in the brains of awake, behaving animals.

The Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research.

Light and Health Research Center.

The Cardiovascular Research Institute at Mount Sinai

Rita Goldstein: Discovery of prefrontal-habenular microstructural impairments in human cocaine and heroin addiction.

Paul Kenny: Established a direct link between the actions of nicotine in the brain and autonomic dysfunction involving smoking-related disorders. The group demonstrated that the habenula communicates with the pancreas to regulate the secretion of hormonal regulators of blood glucose homeostasis, providing a mechanism through which nicotine-induced habenular dysregulation can precipitate type 2 diabetes.

Michael B. Fernando receives a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship.

Ian Maze, PhD selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

Mark Lebwohl Center for Neuroinflammation and Sensation

This Center will advance multidisciplinary research, bringing together skin biology, immunology, and neuroscience.

Director: Brian S. Kim, MD

Jeff and Lisa Blau Adolescent Consultation Center for Resilience and Treatment

The focus of the Blau Center will be on schizophrenia, one of the most debilitating conditions in the entire field of medicine. Over the past 15 years, a new understanding of its pathogenesis has emerged through genetics, epidemiology, and other disciplines.
Director: Alex Charney, MD, PhD

Brain and Body Research Center

Our team of physicians and researchers will explore how the brain controls peripheral diseases and vice versa to better understand how the brain and body interact during multiples types of conditions.

Director: Scott J. Russo, PhD

Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine.

Daniela Schiller: Description of brain changes associated with social cognition and their disruption in psychiatric syndromes.

Jennifer Chan: Winner of Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.

Scott Russo: Leon Levy Endowed Directorship for the Brain Body Research Center

Panos Roussos: First genome-wide association analysis of binge-eating disorder implicating iron metabolism in its pathophysiology

Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Center for Disease Neurogenomics.

Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness.

Center for Parkinson’s Disease Neurobiology

Center for Computational Neuroscience.

Mount Sinai Epilepsy Program.

Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center founded.

Paul A. Slesinger, PhD becomes Vice Chair for the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience.