Psychiatry

A gene linked to autism spectrum disorders plays a critical role in early brain development and may shape the formation of both normal and atypical nerve connections in the brain.

The Cornell Board of Trustees and Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Fellows approved the appointment of Dr. Lee, effective Jan. 1.

New study by The Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medicine investigators illuminates the distributed nature of memory processing in the brain, and provides new insights into the process of memory recall, which is less understood than memory storage.

Depression is the most common mental illness as well as the number one cause of disability among people between the ages of 15 and 44. And for millions of sufferers, antidepressants have literally saved lives that could otherwise have been lost to suicide. 

A cellular protein whose normal function appears to suppress bone formation may be a potential new target for treating osteoporosis, suggests a collaborative study led by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.

To enable animals to shift their attention in response to changing circumstances, the prefrontal cortex of the brain helps keep track of which types of stimuli have recently been most relevant, suggests a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators

Last spring, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York City with full force, Dr. Daniel MacGowan, a neurologist specializing in neuromuscular disease, was asked to consult in a COVID recovery ward.

LGBTQ individuals battling mental health issues often confront a double stigma: prejudice and discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as the negative bias that is frequently associated with mental illness. On top of that, studies have shown that when LGBTQ patients do go for treatment, they frequently feel uncomfortable or inadequately cared for. 

While most states have closed schools and made social distancing a priority to address the COVID-19  pandemic, parents may be wondering how they can help their children cope with being housebound and physically cut off from friends and family.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought multiple and sudden mental health stresses upon Americans en masse: isolation because of social distancing, the need to telecommute and care for children home from school, and for some, abrupt unemployment. Added to the logistical and economic burdens is the fear of contracting or dying from an illness that did not even exist a few months ago – and the ramifications for children and loved ones.

Learning to associate distinct signals with safety has been shown by researchers to reduce fear and anxiety

Decreased amounts of a neurotransmitter called GABA, whose main function is to reduce activity in the brain, leads to changes in the number of neurons in the developing brain and alters signaling between them.

New cellular and molecular processes underlying communication between gut microbes and brain cells have been described for the first time by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell’s Ithaca campus.

Dr. Francis Lee, a leading physician-scientist whose research focuses on anxiety disorders, has been named chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine and psychiatrist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, effective July 1.

Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a $4 million, four-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health to support a new research center dedicated to developing and studying improved treatments for middle-age and older adults suffering from depression.

Dr. Catherine Lord, director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, a collaboration between Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, received the prestigious Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health from the National Academy of Medicine.

In July 2012, a young man with a history of erratic behavior opened fire in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing twelve people and injuring seventy more.