Melissa J. Nirenberg, MD, PhD pursued her undergraduate education at Yale University, graduating magna cum laude with Distinction in English. She was subsequently awarded a PhD in Neuroscience from the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Her doctoral research included investigation of the neuroanatomy of the dopamine-containing neurons that are affected in Parkinson's disease and related disorders. She earned her MD from Weill Cornell Medical School, where she received awards for the highest achievement in the graduating class in both Medicine and Pediatrics.
After medical school, Dr. Nirenberg completed a residency in Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, where she received a prize for excellence in teaching. She then completed a three-year fellowship in Movement Disorders at the Columbia University Center for Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders.
Dr. Nirenberg joined the Weill Cornell faculty in 2005, as Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and Associate Director of the Weill Cornell Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Institute. In this role, Dr. Nirenberg cares for patients with a wide variety of movement disorders, conducts clinical trials and independent research studies, and teaches medical students and residents. She has published extensively in the medical literature, and been recognized with awards for excellence in both teaching and patient care. In 2010, Dr. Nirenberg was also appointed Associate Director of the Tri-Institutional MD/PhD Program.
