Current Research Study

Wendy Chung, M.D., Ph.D.

Wendy Chung, M.D., Ph.D. is a clinical and molecular geneticist and the Kennedy Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine. She received her B.A. in biochemistry and economics from Cornell University, her M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and her Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University in genetics. Dr. Chung directs NIH funded research programs in human genetics of birth defects including congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital heart disease, and esophageal atresia, autism, neurodevelopmental disorders, pulmonary hypertension, cardiomyopathy, obesity, diabetes, and breast cancer. She leads the Precision Medicine Resource in the Irving Institute at Columbia University. She has authored over 300 peer reviewed papers and 50 reviews and chapters in medical texts. She was the recipient of the American Academy of Pediatrics Young Investigator Award, the Medical Achievement Award from Bonei Olam, and the New York Academy Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science. Dr. Chung is renowned for her teaching and mentoring and received Columbia University’s highest teaching award, the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching. She led the pilot newborn screening study of spinal muscular atrophy in NY that helped lead to nationwide adoption of this test in newborns. She was the original plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that overturned the ability to patent genes and served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Genetic Testing. Dr. Chung enjoys the challenges of genetics as a rapidly changing field of medicine and strives to facilitate the integration of genetic medicine into all areas of health care in a medically, scientifically, and ethically sound, accessible, and cost effective manner.

M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD

Head, Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Development 

Director, Center for Neurogenetics

Chair, Neuroscience Graduate Program of Weill Cornell Medical College

Dr. M. Elizabeth Ross received her M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, Ph.D. from Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and her training in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and molecular genetics at Harvard and Rockefeller University. She directs the Center for Neurogenetics in the Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, which supports research into the genetic causes of neurological disorders in children and adults. The Center has both basic science and clinical arms, evaluating patients with neurological disorders of attributable to a single gene mutation or requiring multi-gene interactions and operates the biobank for the neurological community at Weill Cornell.  Neuroscientist faculty in the Center investigate the mechanisms underlying pathogenesis of these conditions. Her own research group, the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Development, focuses on discovery of gene mutations associated with brain malformations and investigation of how these genes direct the construction of brain. Three major projects encompass: 1) genetic interactions that lead to spina bifida, 2) cell cycle regulation and its role in growth and cellular patterning of brain, and 3) regulation of neuronal movement, synapse formation and turnover that are critical to the function of developing and aging brain. These three areas of study are approached from both a basic science perspective, using biochemical, cell biological and mouse genetic tools, and clinical genetics, pursuing how an altered gene-or several genes together-causes impaired brain function. This is the essential first step to finding improved therapies tailored to the individual patient.