Andrew Mark Lippard Memorial Lecture
Lecture History
The Annual Andrew Mark Lippard Memorial Lecture was established in 1975 in memory of Professor and Mrs. Stephen J. Lippard’s seven-year-old son, Andrew Mark, who had died of an acute encephalopathy two years previously. The lecture series is co-sponsored by the Andrew Mark Lippard Memorial Fund, the Columbia MD-PhD Program, and the Department of Neurology.
Professor Lippard was a member of the Department of Chemistry at Columbia at the time of his son’s death. Together with his wife, he established this annual lecture series to stimulate studies on the cause and pathogenesis of encephalopathic disease, particularly with respect to viral components. The annual lecture is traditionally given each Autumn, as close as possible to September 29th, the date of Andrew Mark Lippard's death.
The first Lippard Lecturer was Dr. Philip R. Dodge. Subsequent lecturers included prominent virologists (e.g., Richard T. Johnson, Michael B. Oldstone, Thomas C. Merigan). Topics began to vary more widely in 1982, with Leon E. Rosenberg, Robert G. Schulman, and Stanley B. Pruisner. The scope of lecture topics has continued to evolve with the field.
A complete list of Lippard Lecturers is provided on the next slide. Of note, five former Lippard Lecturers have subsequently won the Nobel Prize.
2026 51st Annual Andrew Mark Lippard Memorial Lecture
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Location: Hammer Health Sciences Center, Room 301, 701 West 168th Street, 3rd Floor
Time: 5 PM
The Neural Code of Words
Edward F. Chang, MD
Margaret Liu Collins and Edward B. Collins Distinguished Professor in Neurological Surgery
Joan and Sanford I. Weill Chair, Department of Neurological Surgery
University of California, San Francisco
Edward F. Chang, MD, is a pioneer in mapping how the human brain produces speech, work that led his laboratory to develop the first successful speech neuroprosthesis — a brain-computer interface that restores communication for people living with paralysis. He is the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Chair and Margaret Liu Collins and Edward B. Collins Distinguished Professor in Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Chang's clinical practice focuses on surgical therapies for epilepsy, pain, and brain tumors. He specializes in advanced neurophysiologic brain mapping, including awake speech and motor mapping, to safely perform neurosurgery in regions of the brain that control critical functions such as speech and movement.
His research uncovers the cortical mechanisms of high-order neurological function in humans. By mapping the detailed functional organization of the human speech cortex, Dr. Chang's laboratory translated that basic science directly into the first speech neuroprosthetic device shown to restore communication for people who cannot speak.
Dr. Chang is the 2025 Gruber Neuroscience Prize laureate, recognized for his landmark discoveries in the neural basis of human speech, and the 2015 Blavatnik National Laureate in Life Sciences. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2025.
The Lippard Lectures: A Legacy in Neuroscience
Since 1975, the Andrew Mark Lippard Memorial Lecture Series has brought experts from across the field of neuroscience to Columbia University Irving Medical Center to share and discuss the latest cutting-edge research. The list of past distinguished Lippard lecturers is a testament to Columbia's position at the forefront of new ideas and approaches to neurology.
Supporting the Lippard Lectures
The Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Department of Neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center remains a world leader in neurological research, patient care, and education thanks to the generous support of its friends and partners. If you would like to make a gift to support the Annual Andrew Mark Lippard Memorial Lecture Series, please visit our online giving page.
Selection Committee
Each year the featured Lippard lecturer is chosen by an interdisciplinary committee comprised of research leaders from across the medical center. Current committee members include:
- Mr. Alexander Lippard
- Joshua Lippard, Esq.
- Stephen Lippard, PhD (ex officio)
- Richard Mayeux, MD, MSc
- George Mentis, PhD
- Serge Przedborski, MD, PhD (Chair)
- Steven Reiner, MD
- Jonathan Rosand, MD
- Peter St George-Hyslop, OC, FRS, FRSC, FRCPC
- Neil Shneider, MD, PhD
- Robert J. Wechsler-Reya, PhD
For more information, please email Tessa Bouche at thb2108@cumc.columbia.edu.