Our Faculty

W. Ian Lipkin, is the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology, and Professor of Neurology and Pathology at Columbia University; Scientific Director of the Northeast Biodefense Center; Principal Investigator of the 100,000 child Autism Birth Cohort; and member of the WHO Laboratory Surveillance Network. In 1989 Lipkin was the first to identify a microbe (Bornavirus) using molecular tools. In 1999 Lipkin led the team that identified West Nile virus in New York. In April 2003 he established an assay for SARS infection, hand carried 10,000 test kits to Beijing at the height of the outbreak, and was named Special Advisor to China for Research and International Cooperation in Infectious Diseases. Dr. Lipkin received his BA from Sarah Lawrence College, MD from Rush Medical College, training at the Queen Square Institute of Neurology; Internship in Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, Residency in Medicine at the University of Washington, Residency in Neurology at the University of California San Francisco, and Fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. In 1990 he joined the University of California Irvine as an Assistant Professor of Neurology, Anatomy and Neurobiology, and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. He advanced to Professor before moving to Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2002. Dr. Lipkin is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (1981) and the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry (1986).

MD, Rush University, 1978

BA, Sarah Lawrence College, 1974

Mailman School Affiliations:

• Center for Infection and Immunity 

University Affiliations:

• Center for Infection and Immunity
• Northeast Biodefense Center
• Autism Birth Cohort

Additional Affiliations:

• Director, Northeast Biodefense Center
• Dalldorf Affiliated Research Physician, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health
• Principal Investigator, Autism Birth Cohort

• Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences
• Pew Scholar, 1991
• Visiting Professor, Japanese Human Science Foundation, 1999
• Foundation Lecturer, American Society of Microbiology, 2001-2003
• Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar in Global Infectious Disease. 2001

NIH (NIAID) Northeast Biodefense Center
Project URL: http://www.nbc.columbia.edu
Dr. Lipkin is scientific director of the Northeast Biodefense Center, a Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases comprising all academic, research, and public health institutions in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Gene: Environment Interactions in an Autism Birth Cohort Project URL: www.abc.columbia.edu

Dr. Lipkin is principal investigator of a prospective birth cohort of 100,000 women, their children and partners focused on determining the epidemiology, natural trajectory of disease, and pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders.

Countries: Norway

Beijing Infectious Disease Center
Dr. Lipkin is Honorary Director of this center which focuses on surveillance, diagnostics, prophylaxis and treatment of emerging infectious diseases in China. He also serves in China on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Institut Pasteur De Shanghai and the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health.

Countries: China

Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre Project URL: http://www1.abcrc.org.au/

Dr. Lipkin provides logistical and scientific support to this center which focuses on surveillance, diagnostics, prophylaxis and treatment of emerging infectious diseases in Australia, Oceania and South Asia.

Countries: Australia