Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, PhD

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Principal Investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. Ishmail earned his B.S. in animal science from North Carolina A&T State University in 2006 and his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. He completed postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell and University of Pennsylvania in 2018. He joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in the Biology Department in 2018 as the Mitchell and Margo Blutt Presidential Assistant Professor. He was recruited to Columbia University in 2021, promoted to Associate Professor in 2023, and awarded tenure in 2025.

Ishmail has been named an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, Pew Biomedical Scholar, Rita Allen Fellow, McKnight Scholar, Kavli-Grossman Scholar, and Freeman Hrabowski Scholar at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is a recipient of the One Mind Rising Star Award, Chan Zuckerberg SDL Award, Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience, and Columbia University’s Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award. From the National Institutes of Health, Ishmail has received the Pathway to Independence Award, New Innovator Award, and Pioneer Award. 

curriculum vitae

Q and A interview of Ishmail (Quanta Magazine, 2024)
Q and A interview of Ishmail. 50 Scientists that Inspire. (Cell, 2024)
Q and A interview of Ishmail (Neuron, 2021)