Department of Genetics

Einstein’s Department of Genetics is one of the oldest genetics departments at a medical school in the USA and was led by Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch, who was Chair of the Department from 1963 to 1976. Born in Germany, Salome Waelsch pioneered the field of developmental genetics, was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the National Medal of Science.

The mission of the Department of Genetics is to use genetics approaches to obtain new knowledge and gain new, basic insights into human disease mechanisms and risk factors with the ultimate aim to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Our areas of study are widespread and organized around three divisions: Translational Genetics, Genomics, and Molecular Genetics. Research across these divisions focuses on the genetics of aging, neurogenetics, population genetics, cardiovascular genetics, viral genetics, epigenetics, cancer genetics, developmental genetics and computational genetics.

The Department is situated on Einstein’s campus at Morrison Park Avenue in the Bronx, New York. There are more than 30 primary faculty members in the Department, with laboratories located in the Ullmann and Price buildings. Faculty in the Department teach the Molecular Genetics course which is a foundational course for our Ph.D. students.