Mady Hornig (born 1957) is an American
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
and an associate professor of
epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's
Mailman School of Public Health
The Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Columbia University. Located on the Columbia University Medical Center campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, the school i ...
.
A physician-scientist, her research involves clinical, epidemiological, and animal model research on
autism
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
and
related neurodevelopmental conditions. She directs the clinical core of an international investigation of the role of
Borna disease
Borna disease, also known as sad horse disease, is an infectious neurological syndrome of warm-blooded animals, caused by Borna disease viruses 1 and 2 (BoDV-1/2). BoDV-1/2 are neurotropic viruses of the species ''Mammalian 1 orthobornavirus,'' ...
virus in human
mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
and participates as a key investigator for the Autism Birth Cohort (ABC) project, a large prospective epidemiological study, based in Norway, that is identifying how
gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
s and timing interact with environmental agents preceding the onset of
autism spectrum
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
diagnoses. In 2006, she was appointed as Guest Professor at the School of Basic Medical Science of
Beijing University
Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...
in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Hornig has been described as an "anti-mercury activist".
[ Along with CII director ]W. Ian Lipkin
Walter Ian Lipkin (born November 18, 1952) is the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and a professor of Neurology and Pathology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbi ...
and colleague Thomas Briese, she is currently investigating measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
virus
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...
RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...
sequences in bowel
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...
biopsies of children with autism spectrum disorder
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental disorder, neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) ...
s. Formulating a "three strikes" model of causation that integrates genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
, the environment and developmental neurobiology
''Developmental Neurobiology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of neural development. It was established in 1969 as ''Journal of Neurobiology'', covering all of neuroscience, but when the scope become more specia ...
, Hornig posits that some cases of autism may represent the unfortunate coincidence of genetic vulnerability (first dimension) and exposure to environmental factors (second dimension) at a critical period of brain development (third dimension). She is examining how brain damage
Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...
from infections, immune system dysfunction, neurotoxin
Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function in both developing and mature ner ...
s, and other chemical or psychosocial stress factors, or host responses to these environmental agents, can lead to neurodevelopmental and other central nervous system
The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...
disorders, thereby contributing to autism, schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...
, obsessive compulsive disorder
Obsession may refer to:
Psychology
* Celebrity worship syndrome, obsessive addictive disorder to a celebrity's personal and professional life
* Fixation (psychology), a persistent attachment to an object or idea
* Idée fixe (psychology), a preo ...
s, and mood disorder
A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the ''Diagnostic and Stat ...
s.
Education
Hornig received a bachelor's degree in 1978 from Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, where she was a College Scholar; an MA in psychology in 1983 from the New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
, and an MD in 1988 from the Medical College of Pennsylvania
Drexel University College of Medicine is the medical school of Drexel University, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The medical school represents the consolidation of two medical schools: the first U.S. medical schoo ...
, in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. Between 1988 and 1992, Hornig served her residency in psychiatry at the University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...
. Under a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychopharmacology on the Depression Research Unit of the University of Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1994.
Career
In the 1990s, Hornig investigated the potential link between the Borna virus and depression in humans.
Hornig has been described as being part of an "inner circle of anti-mercury activists" whose work has been funded in part by the anti-mercury campaigning group SafeMinds.
In 2008, she published a study concluding that there was no association between presence of measles vaccine
Measles vaccine protects against becoming infected with measles. Nearly all of those who do not develop immunity after a single dose develop it after a second dose. When rate of vaccination within a population is greater than 92%, outbreaks of ...
virus in the gut of children and whether these children had autism, nor was there an association between MMR exposure and autism.
In 2011, she co-authored another study concluding that autistic children have altered expression of genes involved in digestion. Regarding this study, Hornig said that its results "are consistent with other research suggesting that autism may be a system-wide disorder, and provide insight into why changes in diet or the use of antibiotics may help alleviate symptoms in some children."
In 2015, Hornig co-authored a study that found that chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...
(CFS) in the early stages of the disease had higher levels of cytokine
Cytokines are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–25 kDa) important in cell signaling. Cytokines are peptides and cannot cross the lipid bilayer of cells to enter the cytoplasm. Cytokines have been shown to be involved in autocrin ...
s than people without CFS.
Animal models
In the 1990s, Hornig helped to develop an infection-based model of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
and depression, based on neonatal rat infection with Borna disease
Borna disease, also known as sad horse disease, is an infectious neurological syndrome of warm-blooded animals, caused by Borna disease viruses 1 and 2 (BoDV-1/2). BoDV-1/2 are neurotropic viruses of the species ''Mammalian 1 orthobornavirus,'' ...
virus.[
In 2004, Hornig published a controversial paper concluding that, in a highly inbred strain of mice which is unusually susceptible to ]autoimmune disease
An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly a ...
, administration of thimerosal
Thiomersal (INN), or thimerosal (USAN, JAN), is an organomercury compound. It is a well-established antiseptic and antifungal agent.
The pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company gave thiomersal the trade name Merthiolate. It has been us ...
resulted in the development of autism-like symptoms; specifically, "growth delay; reduced locomotion; exaggerated response to novelty; and densely packed, hyperchromic hippocampal neurons with altered glutamate receptors and transporters." In addition, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
, Hornig contended that thimerosal may be linked to the recent increases in the incidence of autism. However, Paul Offit
Paul Allan Offit (born March 27, 1951) is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, ...
has accused Hornig of overstating her findings, arguing that her study was "a far cry from proving that thimerosal caused autism in children," and Steven Goodman, a member of the IOM panel that rejected a thimerosal-autism link in 2004, shortly before Hornig's study was published, has claimed that this study "in no way substitutes for actual human evidence." Additionally, researchers from the University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
were unable to reproduce Hornig's results despite using the same strain of mice and ten times the amount of mercury used in Hornig's study.
In 2006, Dan Olmsted reported that Hornig was working on a treatment program in which she would administer gold salts to these genetically susceptible mice in an attempt to improve their behavior.
In 2009, Hornig published another study using mice to examine the mechanism by which Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus
''Streptococcus pyogenes'' is a species of Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-positive, aerotolerant bacteria in the genus ''Streptococcus''. These bacteria are extracellular, and made up of non-motile and non-sporing Coccus, cocci (round cells) that ...
infections might cause Tourette's syndrome
Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...
, OCD and tic
A tic is a sudden, repetitive, nonrhythmic motor movement or vocalization involving discrete muscle groups.American Psychiatric Association (2000)DSM-IV-TR: Tourette's Disorder.''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', 4th ed., ...
s, in line with the PANDAS
Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) is a controversial hypothetical diagnosis for a subset of children with rapid onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or tic disorders. Sy ...
hypothesis. Hornig stated that her findings "illustrate that antibodies alone are sufficient to trigger this behavioral syndrome."
Personal life
Hornig is a native of Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. She married Jim Hornig-Rohan in 1979. They met at the Cancer Institute of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
, when both were doing research in immunology. They have a child, Russell, who was born in July 1985.
Select publications
* Steven Locke, Mady Hornig-Rohan, ''Mind and Immunity: Behavioral Immunology'', 1983,
* Jay D. Amsterdam, Mady Hornig, Andrew A. Nierenberg (editors), ''Treatment-Resistant Mood Disorders'', 2001,
* Hornig M., Chian D., Lipkin W.I.
'Neurotoxic effects of postnatal thimerosal are mouse strain dependent'
''Molecular Psychiatry
''Molecular Psychiatry'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group.
It covers research in biological psychiatry.
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
According to the ''Journal C ...
'' (September, 2004)
*
* Mady Hornig, Thomas Briese, Timothy Buie, Margaret L. Bauman, Gregory Lauwers, Ulrike Siemetzki, Kimberly Hummel, Paul A. Rota, William J. Bellini, John J. O'Leary, Orla Sheils, Errol Alden, Larry Pickering, W. Ian Lipkin
'Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study'
'' PLoS ONE'' (September, 2008)
References
External links
*
MailmanSchool.org
- 'Mady Hornig', Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
faculty page.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornig, Mady
1957 births
American public health doctors
American psychiatrists
Autism researchers
Columbia University faculty
Cornell University alumni
Drexel University alumni
Living people
The New School alumni
Thiomersal and vaccines
American women psychiatrists
American women academics
21st-century American women
Women public health doctors