Yaakov Stern, PhD

Dr. Stern is the Florence Irving Professor of Neuropsychology in the Department of Neurology at Columbia University Irving College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Department of Neurology.

Dr. Stern’s research focuses on cognition in normal aging and in diseases of aging, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Stern’s research was crucial to identifying and clarifying the nature of cognitive reserve, which is a theory that explains individual differences in the susceptibility to age-and disease-related brain changes.

Dr. Stern also leads a large-scale imaging study to identify unique neural networks underlying the major cognitive abilities affected by aging, and another long-term study that models the heterogeneity of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Stern’s research approach includes classic neuropsychological and cognitive experimental techniques, with a strong focus on functional imaging. He has published over 750 peer-reviewed papers, numerous chapters, and edited a book on cognitive reserve.

He has received many awards including the first Denise Park Research Excellence Award from Center for Viral Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas, and the Career Mentoring Award from the International Neuropsychological Society.