Ryan E. Lawrence, MD

Dr. Sonel Rowley is a neuropsychologist at PROMISE at Columbia. She provides comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations to underserved children and adolescents with learning, language, attention/executive function, and developmental disabilities. Dr. Rowley received her doctorate in school psychology from Fordham University. She completed her predoctoral internship in school pscyhology at The Bronxville School and her postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology at The Center for Attention and Learning at Lenox Hill Hospital. Throughout her clinical training, Dr. Rowley honed her skills in neuropsychological assessment by completing pediatric neuropsychology externships at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital and New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Further, Dr. Rowley’s master’s degree in therapeutic interventions has allowed her to become proficient in multiple evidence-based treatment interventions for children and adolescents with an array of mental health concerns.

Dr. Nancy Kerner is a physician-scientist who has clinical and research expertise in the intersection of sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances and cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Her clinical background is in geriatric psychiatry. She is board certified in General Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry. Her clinical practice has focused on healthy aging and late-life neuropsychiatric disorders, encompassing sleep and behavioral disturbances, depression, anxiety, and psychosis in older adults with stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. Dr. Kerner also received fellowship training in research, supported by a NIH-funded T32 Late-life Neuropsychiatric Disorders research training program, with a focus on studying the association between vascular depression, cognitive impairment, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In recent years, Dr. Kerner has assembled a multi-disciplinary team with renowned research investigators in an older adult population, including (1) Davangere Devanand MD, an expert in geriatric depression and cognitive impairment diagnosis and treatment, (2) Jose Luchsinger MD, MPH, an expert in dementia risk factor research, (3) Terry Goldberg, PhD, an expert in cognitive diagnostic instruments, and (4) sleep and circadian rhythm research experts (e.g., Johns Hopkins University). I have also established a consultant team, including Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., an expert in neuropsychology and cognitive reserve, and Mitchell Elkind, MD, MPH, an expert in cerebrovascular disease associated with cognitive impairment and dementia. Her projects include implementing early screening and diagnosing cognitive decline and sleep/circadian rhythm disturbance in clinical and community settings. Dr. Kerner’s optimal goal is to develop a novel diagnostic matrix and treatment for sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances among older adults with cognitive concerns, MCI, and dementia in order to optimize their quality of life and improve long-term cognitive outcomes.

Brian A. Fallon, MD, MPH, is the director of the Center for Neuroinflammatory Disorders and Biobehavioral Medicine and director of the Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University. A graduate of Harvard College, he obtained his MD degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, as well as a master's degree in public health epidemiology from Columbia University. He did his medical internship at Columbia University Medical Center and research training and an NIH fellowship in biological psychiatry at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.In addition to his work on illness anxiety, hypochondriasis, obsessive compulsive disorder, and somatoform disorders, Dr. Fallon is recognized internationally for his research on neurologic and neuropsychiatric Lyme disease. He has served on expert panels for the National Institutes of Health in different areas, including OCD and neurologic and chronic Lyme Disease, and has received over $10 million in both private and governmental grants to continue his research. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Laughlin Award from the American College of Psychiatrists, two commencement awards from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (Richard Raynor Watson Award and the Titus Munson Coan Prize for best essay in Biomedical Research ("The Rise of Tuberculosis among the Homeless Mentally Ill"), the Columbia University Horwitz Award for excellence in Research, the Columbia Universit Medical Student Teacher of the Year award for psychiatry, a NARSAD Principal Investigator Award (2006), and the Roseke award from the American Psychiatric Association for outstanding teaching to medical students (2008). His major research interests cut across the boundaries of medicine, psychiatry, nuclear medicine and neurology.