Robert E. Burke Memorial Lecture
The Robert E. Burke Memorial Lecture was established in 2018 in honor to the memory and accomplishments of Dr. Robert Burke who passed on January 1, 2018 at the age of 68.
Dr. Burke was an outstanding clinical-scientist of the Department of Neurology and Pathology & Cell Biology at Columbia, highly recognized for his work in the molecular basis of neuronal programmed cell death in dopamine neurons and the neurobiology of their axons.
In his honor, the Department of Neurology and his wife, Dr. Sharon Wardlaw, established this lecture to stimulate studies on the cause and pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and related disorders of the aging-brain.
Dr. Burke graduated from Dartmouth College in 1971 and obtained his MD from Cornell University Medical School in 1975. He received training in Neurology and Clinical Movement Disorders at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and was subsequently appointed to the faculty where he spent his entire professional career. He was the Alfred & Minnie Bressler Professor of Neurology and Pathology & Cell Biology. He served as Director of the Laboratories for Research in Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders and led the NIH supported Morris K. Udall Research Center. He had expertise in clinical movement disorders and the neurobiology of Parkinson’s Disease and contributed to the training of many students, residents and fellows. He held leadership positions in the American Academy of Neurology, the Movement Disorder Society and the World Parkinson Congress. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was the recipient of awards from the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
2025 Lecture Information:
New Insights into Ubiquitin-linked Pathways in Neurodegeneration
Date: June 6, 2025
Time: 1:15-2:15 PM
Location: Virtual only
Henry L. Paulson, MD, PhD
Lucile Groff Professor of Neurology
Director, Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center
Research Professor, Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan
Henry L. Paulson, MD, PhD, is the Lucile Groff Professor of Neurology for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, director of the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the University of Michigan, and Research Professor in the Michigan Neuroscience Institute. Dr. Paulson received his medical degree and doctorate in Cell Biology from Yale University in 1990 and completed neurology residency and neurogenetics/movement disorders fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania. He served on the Neurology faculty at the University of Iowa for ten years before moving to the University of Michigan in 2007.
Dr. Paulson's research and clinical interests reside at the interface of cognitive and movement disorders. His laboratory investigates the causes and treatment of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis on polyglutamine disorders, Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. His lab helped pioneer the use of gene silencing methods as a potential therapy for neurodegenerative disorders.
Nationally, Dr. Paulson has served on the scientific advisory boards of numerous disease-related national organizations and is currently a member of the National Advisory Council for Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council at the National Institutes of Health.
Among his awards, Dr. Paulson was an Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging, recipient of the Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar in Aging Award, an elected Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and recipient of the Story Landis Outstanding Mentor Award from NINDS. He also received the Exceptional Research and Service Award from The National Ataxia Foundation and the Movement Disorders Research Award from the American Academy of Neurology.