Eric A SchonEric A. Schon, PhD, is the Lewis P. Rowland Professor of Neurology (in Genetics and Development) at Columbia University. After graduating Columbia University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, he spent 10 years as a Technical Brand Manager for the rocter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, OH. After leaving P&G, he received a PhD in Biological Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Medical School. He moved to Columbia as an Associate Research Scientist in 1984, and has been there ever since. Dr. Schon's laboratory studies the molecular genetics of neurological and neuromuscular diseases, with particular focus on mitochondrial disorders. The research has two principal goals: (1) to use the tools of molecular and cell biology in order to gain insight into the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of these devastating diseases, and (2) to build on this knowledge in order to ask more fundamental biological questions relating to nuclear-mitochondrial communication, mitochondrial biogenesis, and mtDNA plasticity. Most recently, the laboratory has become interested in understanding the structural and functional relationships between mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. Read More Read Less