Message From the Chair

The Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) continues to expand all three key aspects of its mission: patient care, education, and research. Together with the closely allied Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Weill Cornell and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and our affiliated institutions, we have expanded our breadth and depth of expertise in all these areas.

In the clinical realm, we now offer services in several Manhattan locations, as well as multiple locations in Westchester County and Putnam County, through our relationship with the NewYork Presbyterian Medical Group. Our faculty members draw on the traditional toolbox of exercise therapies, medications, and physical modalities, as well as regenerative medicine treatments, fluoroscopically guided spine injections, and the bedside use of musculoskeletal ultrasound to inform therapy and diagnosis. Our team-oriented approach, representing the core values of rehabilitation medicine, results in close collaboration with multiple other specialties, such as physical, occupational, and speech therapies, as well as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, internal medicine, and pediatrics. The Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at VP&S is active in these areas of clinical care and is helping advance our specialty.

Educationally, our residency program continues to compete effectively for the most qualified applicants and provides exceptional clinical training. Many of our graduating residents have chosen to continue their education through fellowships and have been accepted to competitive programs throughout the country. We offer ACGME-accredited fellowships in sports medicine and pediatric rehabilitation medicine. Our alumni are active in all areas of physiatric practice and are well-represented among leaders in our field.

Our educational programs in Physical and Occupational Therapy at Columbia University are national leaders, offering highly sought-after entry-level programs, as well as advanced degrees in collaboration with Teachers College, and post-graduate clinical training for physical therapists in Orthopedic care and Dance Medicine.

Our clinical research program has grown substantially, with a particular focus on stroke and other neurological disorders, cerebral palsy, and musculoskeletal disorders. Combined with our translational research program focusing on stem cell biology, we are working to develop new regenerative therapies as the next phase in rehabilitative care.

I am honored to lead Columbia’s Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at this exciting time and am committed to continuing and expanding its reputation for excellence in all aspects of our mission. Feel free to contact us for more information about our department.

Joel Stein, MD
Simon Baruch, Professor and Chair
Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons