Nicholas Schiff, MD

Nicholas Schiff, MD, is a leading expert on neurological disorders of consciousness. The author of more than 180 scientific publications and 24 US and international patents, Dr. Schiff is The Jerold B. Katz Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine and Attending Neurologist at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.

Traumatic brain injuries have left more than five million Americans permanently disabled. In a pioneering experiment led by Dr. Schiff and reported in the medical literature in December 2023, five people who had debilitating brain injuries were able to achieve improved cognitive function after receiving electrode implants that stimulated an almond-size structure deep within their brains called the central lateral nucleus. Implanted electrodes, a kind of pacemaker for the brain, offer the promise of becoming the first effective therapy for chronic brain injuries. Schiff and his colleagues' successful experiment builds on years of research into neuronal signaling in the brain and how it can be disrupted or shut down if the brain is severely jostled in, for example, a car crash or a fall.