Mady Hornig, M.A., M.D.
Principal Investigator for Pathogen Discovery and Pathogenesis
Director of Translational Research at the Center for Infection and Immunity
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
Mady Hornig, M.A., M.D., is a physician-scientist working at Columbia University on the role of microbial, immune, and toxic stimuli in the development of psychiatric illnesses. Her contributions include establishment of animal models of immune-mediated neurodevelopmental disorder pathogenesis and novel approaches to neuropharmacologic treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.
She also uses epidemiologic approaches to investigate the immunopathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, mood disorders, AD/HD, PANDAS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She will direct an initiative that focuses on pathogen discovery and pathogenesis in CFS. While at the University of Vermont and the University of Pennsylvania, she worked closely with chronic fatigue patients and patients afflicted with the related syndrome fibromyalgia.
Dr. Hornig is also a lead investigator for the Autism Birth Cohort, a prospective birth cohort study in Norway that is identifying how genes and maturational factors interact with environmental agents to lead to autism. Under her direction, proteomic analyses of umbilical cord samples are already identifying potential birth biomarkers for autism. She also collaborates on several other projects examining the influence of immune molecules on prenatal brain development and their role in the genesis of schizophrenia, major depression, and cardiovascular disease in adults.
Her work on the MIND (Microbiology and Immunology of Neuropsychiatric Disorders) Project, one of the largest studies of immune factors in mood disorders and schizophrenia, addresses the potential role of viruses and immune responses in the pathogenesis of these disorders.