Thomas M. Jessell

Dr. Thomas Michael Jessell is the Claire Tow Professor, Department of Neuroscience and Department of Biophysics; the Co-Director of the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute; and the Co-Director of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University. He is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. For the past two decades, Jessell has worked to understand how nerve cells in the developing spinal cord assemble into functional circuits that control sensory perception and motor actions. Ultimately, his research may provide a more thorough understanding of how the central nervous system is constructed and suggest new ways to repair diseased or damaged neurons in the human brain and spinal cord. The principles that have emerged from Jessell's studies in the spinal cord have now been found to apply to many other regions of the central nervous system, thus establishing a basic ground plan that helps us to understand brain development and potentially to develop treatments for brain disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Jessell has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gruber Foundation Neuroscience Prize, the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, the Gairdner International Award, and the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience. In addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership, he is a fellow of the UK’s Royal Society, a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.