Evan Schaffer.

Evan Schaffer

Assistant professor of neuroscience
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Evan Schaffer is assistant professor of neuroscience at the Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His lab uses mathematical tools to understand distributed computations in the brain, identify how these computations change with learning and identify how feedback from the body impacts cognition. Schaffer received his Ph.D. at the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, in Larry Abbott’s lab at Columbia University. He completed his postdoctoral work in Richard Axel’s Lab at Columbia University

Explore more from The Transmitter

Cortical area remixes macaques’ knowledge blocks to solve new problems

When monkeys draw complex shapes, their neural activity reflects patterns of activation elicited by drawing simpler, component shapes.

By Lauren Schenkman
19 June 2026 | 0 min watch
Photo illustration of Kaela Singleton.

Getting grants feels good, but giving them is even better

As director of grants management at the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, Kaela Singleton bets on bold science and shares in the joy of discovery.

By Katie Moisse
19 June 2026 | 8 min read
Photo collage featuring Tempest McDonald.

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 3: Would there be data?

Tempest McDonald takes a postdoctoral position at Vanderbilt University. Researching her paper accusing the National Institutes of Health of discrimination threatens everything she has built.

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 27 min listen