Karen L. Bell, MD
On the web

Overview
Karen Bell is a Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain and the GH Sergievsky Center. A Bronx native who graduated from New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, she completed internship in internal medicine at Harlem Hospital Center and neurology residency at The Neurological Institute at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. After completing a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology, she focused her clinical and research efforts to specialize on the evaluation and treatment of neurodegenerative cognitive disorders at the Taub Institute.
As the Director of the Education Core of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia University, she has developed physician and community education programs. She is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology and the National Medical Association, serving on various subcommittees. She is an external advisor to National Medical Association's Project I.M.P.A.C.T. initiative. She also serves on multiple NINDS Data Safety Monitoring Boards and has been a member of the Columbia University Medical Center Institutional Review Board since 2003. She was appointed to the New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education (NYSCOGME) by Governor Paterson in 2009 and chairs the NYS COGME Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program Workgroup. She has participated as a mentor in the Harlem Children Society science program for many years.
Areas of Expertise / Conditions Treated
- Dementia
- Memory Disorder
- Memory Impairment
Academic Appointments
- Professor of Neurology (in the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain) at CUMC
Hospital Affiliations
- NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Gender
- Female
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Phone Appointments
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Location(s)
Insurance Accepted
Aetna
Affinity Health Plan
Amida Care
Cigna
Emblem/GHI
Emblem/HIP
Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthPlus
Fidelis Care
Healthfirst
Local 1199
MagnaCare (National)
Medicare
Multiplan
MVP Health Care
RiverSpring
UnitedHealthcare
VNSNY CHOICE
WellCare
World Trade Center Health Plan
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- Internship: Harlem Hospital Center
- Residency: Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, NY
- Fellowship: Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, NY
Committees, Societies, Councils
- American Academy of Neurology
- National Medical Association
Board Certifications
- Internal Medicine
Research
As the Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials Group at Columbia University Medical Center, she has led the clinical trials group at the Taub Institute to become a leading center in Phase II and III trials with potential disease modifying agents. She was the Director of the Minority Recruitment Core for NIA-funded Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS), and is interested in achieving ethnic diversity in enrollment in Alzheimer's disease clinical trials on a national level. As such she has been spearheading the ADCS recruitment efforts to increase diversity in clinical trials since 2002.
For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov(link is external and opens in a new window)