Rate My Professor Joe Verghese

Joe Verghese, MD, MS, FRCPI, serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University since his appointment in 2024. A graduate of St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore, India (MBBS), he completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Neurology in the United Kingdom, Neurology residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1998, and fellowships in Neurophysiology and Aging & Dementia there in 1999. He earned an MS in Clinical Research Methods with Distinction from Albert Einstein in 2001 and holds board certification in Neurology. Prior to Stony Brook, Dr. Verghese was a tenured Professor of Neurology and Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 2000 to 2024. He also served as Chief of the Division of Cognitive & Motor Aging in the Department of Neurology and Chief of Geriatrics at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY. Additionally, he founded the Montefiore Einstein Center for the Aging Brain, designated a Center of Excellence in Alzheimer’s disease by the New York State Department of Health in 2016.

Dr. Verghese’s research specializes in the effects of aging and disease on mobility and cognition among older adults. His work encompasses non-pharmacological interventions to mitigate dementia and mobility loss risks, cognitive control of gait and mobility, epidemiology of dementia and pre-dementia syndromes including the Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome he helped define, gait disorders, frailty, falls, and related brain substrates. As principal investigator, he has secured over $200 million in NIH funding since 2002 and currently leads five active grants. With more than 300 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Nature Medicine, and Neurology, his contributions have advanced understanding of prodromal dementia features. Notable awards include the Paul Beeson Emerging Leaders Award from the National Institute on Aging, the Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Investigation Award from the American Geriatrics Society, and the Joseph T. Freeman Award from the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Verghese serves on editorial boards for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, Canadian Geriatrics Journal, Annals of Geriatrics Medicine & Research, and Neurodegenerative Disease Management. He has mentored over 100 trainees and junior faculty, receiving the Einstein Clinical Research Training Program’s Mentor of the Year Award on two occasions.