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My career

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My career
Gerald Fischbach Scientist
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1. My career 1 01:59
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I've had a very varied career. Varied in terms of different places, starting with my birth in Brooklyn and growing up in Mount Vernon, moving to New Rochelle and going to college at Colgate in Hamilton, New York, and then Cornell Medical School in the city on to the NIH for a postdoctoral fellowship. In between there, there was an internship in Seattle at the University of Washington, did two Washingtons in my career, and I have to keep them straight.

After the NIH, I went to Harvard and after Harvard, I went to WashU, and after WashU, I went back to Harvard, and after Harvard, I went back to the NIH. After the NIH, I came back to New York at Columbia. After Columbia, I settled at the Simons Foundation.

Some people say I have a 'movement' disorder, but I enjoyed every one of them and so did Ruth, my wife. Reluctant at first, but she thrived at each stage. Developed her own program and career, finished a PhD thesis along the way and then had distinguished positions at Harvard, WashU, and Columbia.

Gerald Fischbach (b. 1938) is an American neuroscientist and pioneering researcher. He pioneered the use of nerve cell cultures to study the electrophysiology, morphology and biochemistry of developing nerve-muscle and inter-neuronal synapses.

Listeners: Christopher Sykes

Christopher Sykes is an independent documentary producer who has made a number of films about science and scientists for BBC TV, Channel Four, and PBS.

Tags: NIH, Washington University, Harvard University, Simons Foundation

Duration: 1 minute, 59 seconds

Date story recorded: July 2023

Date story went live: 21 February 2025