Staff and faculty

Janet Mindes, Ph.D.

Dr. Janet Mindes received her B.A. from Radcliffe College, Harvard University (medieval and Byzantine art history). She intended to become a psychoanalyst and began clinical psychology training, but eventually chose research, and received her PhD from New York University in experimental psychology (memory and cognition). She was Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology at Barnard College, and also taught psychology at New York University, Marymount College and Columbia College.

Dr. Mindes was with the Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons from 1999-2007. As Associate Director for Education and Training, she educated medical students, residents, undergraduate and pre-professional interns, MD and PhD fellows and diverse colleagues about CAM, particularly concerning possible cognitive and mental health benefits of CAM. She helped run a unique online community of MDs and other professionals sharing clinical approaches and research evidence in complementary medicine. She initiated and ran the Rosenthal Center’s monthly CAM lecture series and Journal Club, as well as a special lecture series in integrative neuropsychiatry, in collaboration with the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, the Mind and Life Institute and the New York Academy of Sciences. While Dr. Mindes was an investigator at the Rosenthal Center, she developed collaborative research projects and submitted grants to look at brain mechanisms of action, and mood, cognitive and other healthcare outcomes from use of types of CAM for cognitive aging, and depression.

Now associated with the Division of Brain Stimulation and Therapeutic Modulation, Columbia University, Dr. Mindes continues to be an educator, running the Division’s Journal Club, lectures and weekly research meetings, and administering short-term visiting fellowships and rotations for visiting residents. Dr. Mindes initiated and is Co-Investigator on a study using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in an affective neuroscience paradigm. She also is Co-Investigator on a study examining whether Cranial Electrical Stimulation (CES) can mitigate depression in those with bipolar disorder. She is particularly interested in using TMS to study functional brain networks involved in affective processes.