Karen L. Bell, MD

Neurology: Aging and Dementia
Internal Medicine, Neurology
More specialties
Accepting New Patients
Virtual Visits/Telehealth
Profile Headshot

Overview

Karen Bell is a Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain and the GH Sergievsky Center. A Bronx native who graduated from New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, she completed internship in internal medicine at Harlem Hospital Center and neurology residency at The Neurological Institute at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. After completing a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology, she focused her clinical and research efforts to specialize on the evaluation and treatment of neurodegenerative cognitive disorders at the Taub Institute.

As the Director of the Education Core of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia University, she has developed physician and community education programs. She is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology and the National Medical Association, serving on various subcommittees. She is an external advisor to National Medical Association's Project I.M.P.A.C.T. initiative. She also serves on multiple NINDS Data Safety Monitoring Boards and has been a member of the Columbia University Medical Center Institutional Review Board since 2003. She was appointed to the New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education (NYSCOGME) by Governor Paterson in 2009 and chairs the NYS COGME Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program Workgroup. She has participated as a mentor in the Harlem Children Society science program for many years.

Areas of Expertise / Conditions Treated

  • Dementia
  • Memory Disorder
  • Memory Impairment

Academic Appointments

  • Professor of Neurology (in the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain) at CUMC

Hospital Affiliations

  • NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Gender

  • Female

Schedule an Appointment

Virtual Visits/Telehealth

Virtual Visits allow you to connect with your provider from the comfort, convenience, and safety of your own home.

Schedule Virtual Visit

Phone Appointments

New and Existing Patients:

Connect Patient Portal

For existing patients, login to make an appointment, view documentation or contact your care provider.

Connect Sign In

Location(s)

710 West 168th Street
New York, NY 10032
Primary
155 White Plains Road
Suite W100
Tarrytown, NY 10591

Insurance Accepted

Aetna

  • Aetna Signature Administrators
  • EPO
  • HMO
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • NYP Employee Plan
  • NY Signature
  • POS
  • PPO
  • Student Health

Affinity Health Plan

  • Essential Plan
  • Medicaid Managed Care

AgeWell

  • Medicare Managed Care
  • Special Needs

Amida Care

  • Special Needs

Cigna

  • EPO
  • Great West (National)
  • HMO
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • POS
  • PPO

Emblem/GHI

  • Medicare Managed Care
  • PPO

Emblem/HIP

  • ConnectiCare
  • EPO
  • Essential Plan
  • HMO
  • Medicaid Managed Care
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • POS
  • PPO
  • Select Care (Exchange)
  • Vytra

Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield

  • EPO
  • HMO
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • PPO

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthPlus

  • Child/Family Health Plus
  • Essential Plan
  • Medicaid Managed Care

Fidelis Care

  • Child/Family Health Plus
  • Essential Plan
  • Medicaid Managed Care
  • Medicare Managed Care

Healthfirst

  • Child/Family Health Plus
  • Leaf (Exchange)
  • Medicaid Managed Care
  • Medicare Managed Care

Local 1199

  • Local 1199

MagnaCare (National)

  • MagnaCare

Medicare

  • Railroad
  • Traditional Medicare

Multiplan

  • Multiplan

MVP Health Care

  • Child/Family Health Plus
  • Essential Plan
  • HMO
  • Medicaid Managed Care

Quality Health Management

  • Quality Health Management

RiverSpring

  • Special Needs

UnitedHealthcare

  • Compass (Exchange)
  • Empire Plan
  • HMO
  • Medicaid (Community Plan)
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • Oxford Freedom
  • Oxford HMO
  • Oxford Liberty
  • POS
  • PPO

VNSNY CHOICE

  • Medicare Managed Care
  • SelectHealth
  • Special Needs

WellCare

  • Medicaid Managed Care
  • Medicare Managed Care

World Trade Center Health Plan

  • World Trade Center Health Plan

*Please contact the provider’s office directly to verify that your particular insurance is accepted.

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • Internship: Harlem Hospital Center
  • Residency: Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, NY
  • Fellowship: Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, NY

Committees, Societies, Councils

  • American Academy of Neurology
  • National Medical Association

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine

Research

As the Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials Group at Columbia University Medical Center, she has led the clinical trials group at the Taub Institute to become a leading center in Phase II and III trials with potential disease modifying agents. She was the Director of the Minority Recruitment Core for NIA-funded Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS), and is interested in achieving ethnic diversity in enrollment in Alzheimer's disease clinical trials on a national level. As such she has been spearheading the ADCS recruitment efforts to increase diversity in clinical trials since 2002.