Gerald Fischbach

Gerald D. Fischbach (born on November 15, 1938) is an American physician and neuroscientist. He received his M.D. from the Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University in 1965 before beginning his research career at the National Institutes of Health in 1966, where his research focused on the mechanisms of neuromuscular junctions.

Gerald Fischbach
Born	Gerald D. Fischbach (1938-11-15) November 15, 1938
Alma mater	Colgate University Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University
Occupation(s)	Physician, Neuroscientist

Personal

Gerald D. Fischbach attended Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, where he was a four-year recipient of the New York State Regents Scholarship. He graduated magna cum laude with high honors in mathematics receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Chemistry. Fischbach was also elected a member of Colgate University’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 1960. After graduating from Colgate University, Fischbach attended Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, where he was a recipient of the New York State Medical Scholarship from 1962 to 1965 and the Polk Award for Undergraduate Research in 1965, before graduating with his M.D. that same year. Additionally, Fischbach received honorary Masters degrees from Harvard University in 1978 and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Colgate University in 2003. After graduating medical school, Fischbach interned at the University of Washington hospital in Seattle, Washington before beginning his research career at the National Institutes of Health in 1966. Gerald D. Fischbach is married to Ruth L. Fischbach, who currently serves as a Professor of Bioethics in Psychiatry at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Gerald D. Fischbach and Ruth L. Fischbach have four children.

Research Career

National Institutes of Health

Fischbach began his research career at the National Institutes of Health, where he served as a senior surgeon at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) before becoming a fellow at the National Institute of Child Health from 1966 to 1973. Much of Fischbach’s research concentrated on the mechanisms controlling action potentials and synapses, from which he pioneered the use of cell culture to study neuromuscular junctions. Fischbach used this technique to reconstruct neuromuscular junctions from dissociated spinal cord and muscle cells from chick embryos to show that functional synaptic connections reformed and were capable of sending spontaneous or induced action potentials. This technique proved to be an important model for further studies to determine the essential mechanisms controlling neuromuscular junction development and maintenance. Towards the end of his tenure at the National Institutes of Health, Fischbach began to search for motor neuron molecules responsible for regulating the number of acetylcholine receptors on postsynaptic cells. This research project culminated in 1993 with the isolation of the ARIA (acetylcholine receptor inducing activity) protein, which is responsible for stimulating the production of acetylcholine receptors in postsynaptic muscle tissue.

Harvard University 1973-1981, 1990-1998

After his time at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Fischbach obtained a position as an associate professor at Harvard Medical School's Department of Pharmacology in 1973. By 1978 he obtained tenure and became a full fledged professor, and he taught there for three years. After a nine year stint at the University of Washington Medical School, he returned to Harvard to serve as the Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology and Chairman of the Neurobiology Departments of both Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital from 1990 to 1998. During his years as an associate professor, Dr. Fischbach researched the development of pre-cursor muscle cells, specifically the development of acetylcholine receptors on embryonic chick pectoral muscles. Later on he continued his research on ARIA that he started at the National Institutes of Health, specifically focusing on the expression of the protein's isoforms and their effects on tyrosine kinases.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 1998-2001

Fischbach returned to the NIH in 1998 when he was named director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a division of the NIH that supports research on the brain and nervous system. While he was director, Fischbach oversaw a staff of more than 700 and an annual budget of about $800 million. This money was used to support research by private and public organizations across the country as well as scientists working in labs at NINDS. Fischbach accomplished many things while director of NINDS, one of which being helping to shape national policy on important neurological research issues. He received great praise for his time as director from both Dr. Harold Varmus, former director of the NIH and current director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and Dr. Richard Klausner, former director of the NCI. Fischbach left NINDS is 2001 when he was named Columbia University's Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences.

Columbia University 2001-2006

After being the Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, at the National Institute of Health, Gerald Fischbach was selected in April 2001 as the new Vice President and Dean of the Health and Biomedical Sciences, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Columbia University in New York City. Dr. Fischbach was interviewed by the newspaper for Columbia University Health Sciences and saw the main mission of the medical school and university as lessening the impact and suffering of human disease. He stated that this requires interdisciplinary and collaborative work with the other departments and resources at Columbia University. The Health and Biomedical Sciences division at Columbia University includes the School of Nursing, the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Dental Medicine, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Audubon Business and Technology Center. The Audubon Center is the only research park that is affiliated with a university in New York City and holds the only incubator for business related to biotechnology.

The research Dr. Fischbach conducts at Columbia University stemmed from his previous work at Harvard University, University of Washington and with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Health. The specialized focus of his research is on the influence trophic factors could have on the survival of nerve cells and the efficiency of synapses. Since arriving at Columbia, Fischbach has been focused on the expression of neuregulin in regards to neuromuscular synapses, signaling pathways in the brain, transcription factors, as well as work on autism.

Simons Foundation

In 2006, Dr. Fischbach joined the Simons Foundation as the scientific director to oversee the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative. The Simons Foundation is a philanthropy founded by Jim Simons and his wife Marilyn, and has awarded $130 million for autism research as of 2008. As scientific director, Fischbach works cooperatively with mathematicians, engineers, chemists, and neuroscientists to try and understand autism more deeply. One of the main projects Dr. Fischbach and his colleagues at the Simons Foundation are working on is trying to discover the genetic factors that increase the risk of autism. This was a cooperative effort by 100 researchers and 13 universities that involved interviewing and collecting blood samples from families. Another focus of the research he has overseen revolves around the neurobiology associated with the disease and how that can relate to finding a cure.

Awards, Associations & Publications

Academic & Research Awards

• 1960 Phi Beta Kappa at Colgate University
• 1965 Received the Polk Award for Undergraduate Research at Cornell University
• 1975 Mathilde Solowey Award in Neuroscience awarded by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences: National Institute of Health
• 1981 Received the W. Alden Spencer Award from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University
• 1998 Awarded the Foundation Ipsen Neuronal Plasticity Prize
• 2000 Given the Dr. Nathan Davis Award
• 2003 Received the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation Honor for Contributions
• 2004 Colgate University awarded him the Maroon Citation

Association Memberships

• 1984 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
• 1988 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1990 Elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine
• 1991 Became a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
• 1997 Joined the Cambridge Scientific Club
• 2000 Became a member of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government in the department of Career Public Service
• 2000 Joined the American Medical Association
• 2003 Appointed to the Council for Foreign Relations
• 2003 Joined the American Philosophical Society

Selected Publications

Dr. Gerald Fischbach has authored or co-authored over a hundred papers on his research work; some selected publications, from oldest to most recent include:

• Falls, DL, Rosen, KM, Corfas, G, Lane W, and Fischbach, GD (1993). ARIA, a protein that stimulates acetylcholine receptor synthesis, is a member of the neu ligand family. Cell 72(5): 801-813.
• Loeb JA, Hmadcha A, Fischbach GD, Land SJ, and Zakarian VL (2002). Neuregullin expression at neuromuscular synapses is modulated by synaptic activity and neurotrophic factors. Journal of Neuroscience 22(6): 2206-2214.
• Mann MA, Knipe DM, Fischbach GD, Fields BN (2002). Type 3 reovirus neuroinvation after intramuscular inoculation: direct invasion of nerve terminals and age-dependent pathogenesis. Virology Nov 25:303(2):222-31.
• Jacobson C, Duggan D, and Fischbach G, (2004) Neuregulin induces the expression of transcription factors and myosin heavy chains typical of muscle spindles in cultured human muscle. PNAS 101(33): 12218-12223.
• Fischbach G, and Fischbach R, (2004) Stem Cells: science, policy, and ethics. J. of Clinical Investigation 114(10): 1364-1370.
• Liu Y, Ford BD, Mann MA, and Fischbach GD, (2005) Neuregulin-1 increases the proliferation of neuronal progenitors from embryonic neural stem cells. Dev Biol Jul 15;283(2): 437-445.
• Fischbach G, and Lord, C, (2010) The Simons Simplex Collection: A Resource for Identification of Autism Genetic Risk Factors. Neuron 68(2): 192-195.