Home | Columbia News

Unraveling the Complex Puzzle of Alzheimer's Disease

In the movie Still Alice, Julianne Moore plays a Columbia linguistics professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, an extremely rare version of the disease.

It is fitting that Moore’s character teaches here, where research and treatment of neurological and age-related diseases are such a priority. Scott Small, director of Columbia’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, the Boris and Rose Katz Professor of Neurology, discusses what is known and what’s yet to be discovered, about the disease.

Top Stories

Couple Illustrates the Marvels of Science

Amy and Robert Pollack have collaborated on many projects over their 53-year marriage. Amy, an artist, has often provided the frontispieces for her husband’s books. Robert, a professor of biological sciences who leads the Center for the Study of Science and Religion and was dean of Columbia College from 1982-89, has often used his wife’s drawings for his “Frontiers of Science” course in the Core Curriculum.

Psychologist Valerie Purdie-Vaughns Studies the Impact of Society’s Expectations

When Valerie Purdie-Vaughns was in high school, she was recruited by Columbia to play basketball, and she still has a vivid memory of what her guidance counselor said. “I know Columbia is interested in you,” she recalls as though the conversation were yesterday, “but you won’t get in, and even if you do, people like you don’t do well there.”