Paul Appelbaum was Principal Investigator of the ELSI Center for Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics at Columbia University Medical Center. The center investigated the ELSI challenges that come with using genetic information in the context of psychiatric, neurologic, and behavioral (PNB) disorders which are often highly stigmatized. The center operated from 2013 - 2023.
The purpose of this project is to investigate the stigmatization of the sick as it applies to new developments in genetic testing, screening, and diagnostics. Using the methods of medical and social historiography, historical case studies of social alienation and isolation will be analyzed, compared, and contrasted to the potential social and ethical problems we face with the vast scientific knowledge to be gained from the HGP.