ADVERTISEMENT
The appointment is not merely honorary; it is a strategic integration of Fox’s decades of advocacy and the university’s cutting-edge neurology department. The role was designed to bridge the gap between the clinical study of brain disorders and the psychological reality of living with them. Michael J. Fox has spent over twenty years through his foundation transforming the landscape of Parkinson’s research, raising billions of dollars and shifting the focus toward a cure. However, this new professorship at Columbia focuses on the “human hardware”—the cognitive discipline required to maintain a forward-looking perspective when the body suggests otherwise. During the announcement, Fox, with his signature wit and self-deprecating charm, remarked that while he lacked a traditional doctorate, his life had provided a “masterclass in getting back up.” It is this specific expertise in resilience that Columbia hopes will inspire students across all disciplines, from medical residents to philosophy majors.
