Adam Kohn, Ph.D., Named Chair of Neuroscience at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

BRONX, N.Y., Jan. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Adam Kohn, Ph.D., has been named the chair of the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience at Albert Einstein College of Medicine following an extensive national search. Dr. Kohn, whose research focuses on visual processing, has been acting as the interim chair of the department for the past two years. He is a professor of neuroscience, of ophthalmology and visual sciences, and of systems & computational biology, and the Isidor Tachna Professor of Ophthalmology at Einstein.

"Dr. Kohn has demonstrated his exemplary leadership in recent years," said Yaron Tomer, M.D., the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Einstein and chief academic officer at Montefiore Einstein. "His exceptional research, clear dedication to advancing the needs of the faculty, postdocs, students and staff in his department, and collaborative approach made him the clear choice to assume the permanent role as chair."

In addition to his leadership role, Dr. Kohn will continue his research at Einstein. His research team examines how visual information is encoded and processed by populations of cortical neurons, as well as how these processes are affected by recent stimulus history, or adaptation. His lab seeks to address issues of neural coding, cortical plasticity, corticocortical signaling, and the neuronal basis of visual perception. He is the principal investigator or co-PI on several grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Simons Foundation. Additionally, he is a recipient of an Irma T. Hirschl Career Scientist Award.

Dr. Kohn has mentored numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at Einstein. His students have won the Marmur prize, an Einstein award for best dissertation research. His trainees have gone on to run their own research programs at institutions in the United States and abroad.

"I am honored to be appointed chair of this lauded department, one of the first neuroscience departments in the country and home to leading scientists in the field," said Dr. Kohn. "I look forward to working with Dean Tomer and members of the department to advance the outstanding research and mentoring for which our department is known."

Dr. Kohn joined Einstein faculty in 2006 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. J. Anthony Movshon at New York University. Prior to his fellowship, he had served as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute associate with Dr. Movshon, following the completion of his doctoral studies in neurobiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2024-25 academic year, Einstein is home to 712 M.D. students, 226 Ph.D. students, 112 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and approximately 250 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 2,000 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2024, Einstein received more than $192 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in cancer, aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. For more information, please visit einsteinmed.edu, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and view us on YouTube.

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SOURCE Albert Einstein College of Medicine