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CURRICULUM
VITAE:
Click HERE for full CV.
Click
HERE for list of publications.
Dr. Kissileff's career in research began when he first studied the effects of lateral hypothalamic lesions on sodium appetite as an senior undergraduate in Alan Epstein's laboratory, at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with a B.A. in 1962. His first scientific paper was given on this subject at the American Society of Zoologists meeting in Philadelphia, in 1964. Dr. Kissileff received his doctorate in Zoology two years later (1966) for a thesis which demonstrated that rats recovered from lateral hypothalamic lesions drink water solely to assist them in swallowing dry food, not in response to body water hydrational challenges to which they are insensitive from both excess and deficiency. He next studied electrophysiology with Carl Pfaffmann, at the Rockefeller University, where he attained the rank of assistant professor in 1969. During his tenure at the Rockefeller, he devised a pellet-detecting eatometer which made it possible to record a rat's consumption of individual 45 mg rat chow pellets, without the rat having to perform an operant to obtain the pellet. The device was useful for quantifying eating patterns in rats with motivational deficits and in weanling rats. While at the Rockefeller, Dr. Kissileff developed collaborations with David Quartermain and Emil Becker, who later became his graduate student. The work with Quartermain showed that when rats were infused intragastrically on a schedule which approximated their own individual eating patterns intake was more effectively suppressed than when the infusion was either continuous or on a fixed schedule.
Together with Becker, he showed that rats with ventromedial hypothalamic lesions made by a previously implanted electrode eat a huge meal immediately after recovering from the anaesthetic used to briefly sedate the animals when the lesion was made. This work demonstrated that the hyperphagia of ventromedial hypothalamic lesions is an immediate release of inhibition over eating, not the result of metabolic changes that require a long time for their occurrence. After 5 years at the Rockefeller, Dr. Kissileff returned to the U of P as Assistant Professor in the Physical Therapy Department where he taught physiology for 5 years and continued research on meal patterns in rats, with the help of an NSF grant.
In 1976, Dr. Kissileff moved back to New York, this time to work with Dr. T.B. VanItallie and colleagues at the Obesity Research Center of St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center. Dr. Kissileff was also appointed Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1988, he was promoted to Associate Professor and affiliated with the Department of Medicine as well as Psychiatry. He established a laboratory for the study of human eating behavior and together with VanItallie devised an eating monitor for humans. This device enabled Kissileff and several colleagues to compare curves of cumulative intake in both individuals with and without eating disorders. His studies of human eating have revealed many important facets including the following: 1) Cholecystokinin infusions reduce food intake, just as they do in animals (in collaboration with F.X. Pi-Sunyer, and G.P. Smith). 2) Patients with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder eat more, even in a laboratory setting, than do control subjects, but only when they are instructed to binge eat (in collaboration with J. G. Kral, B. T. Walsh, and M. Devlin). 3) Strenuous exercise reduces food intake (in collaboration with K. Segal and F. X. Pi-Sunyer). 4) Some foods appear to be more satiating than others. In 1986, Dr. Kissileff helped to establish the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, and became its first president in 1987. After his tenure as president he was appointed Executive Officer, and he has continued in this position until the present. He was recognized for his service to the Society with the Eliot Stellar award in 1998. Dr. Kissileff is also Chairman of the Columbia University Seminar on Appetitive Behavior. The seminar has monthly meetings during the academic year and Dr. Kissileff invites the speakers for them.
LINKS:
Opening of the Kissilef Laboratory
SSIB
The University
Seminars at Columbia University
Institute of
Human Nutrition at Columbia University
Employment Opportunities for
Students
CONTACT INFORMATION:
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
1111 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10025
Tel: (212) 523-4200
Fax: (212) 523-4830
E-mail:hrk2@columbia.edu
CORE LABS:
Biostatistics Subcore
Human Eating Behavior
Laboratory