David Goldstein, a prominent geneticist at Duke University, will soon join Columbia as a professor of genetics and development at the College of Physicians and Surgeons and as director of a new Institute for Genomic Medicine to be run in partnership with New York– Presbyterian Hospital; Goldstein will assume the new positions January 1, 2015.
Goldstein, who currently directs Duke’s Center for Human Genome Variation, is an expert on the relationship between human genetic variations and diseases such as epilepsy, hepatitis C, and schizophrenia, as well as drug treatments for these conditions. He was recruited to Columbia to lead an institute that will integrate genetics and genomics into research, patient care, and education. Goldstein will also serve as an adviser to Columbia president Lee C. Bollinger and medical campus head Lee Goldman on the genetic and genomic components of Columbia’s University-wide initiative in precision, or personalized, medicine, which was announced last February.
“Having a pioneering researcher like David Goldstein join us marks a crucial next step in our initiative to be at the forefront of genomics, data science, and the core science and engineering disciplines essential to this emerging field of truly humanistic medicine,” says Bollinger. “The potential for progress in this broad subject encompasses not only new cures for disease, but also virtually every part of the University, including areas that explore fundamental issues of human self-understanding, as well as the legal, policy, and economic implications of revolutionary changes in knowledge and practice.”
