However, there was initially relatively little interaction between the different sub-disciplines of neuroscience at Columbia. In 1974 Eric Kandel was recruited to bring an interdisciplinary approach to basic neuroscience research at the Medical Center, resulting in the formation of an interdepartmental Center for Neurobiology and Behavior. The members of this group collaborated in their research, and they created an integrated course in basic neuroscience for medical and dental students. They also established a Neurobiology and Behavior Track for predoctoral students.

As neuroscience continued to grow as a discipline, Columbia added several additional groups that foster basic neuroscience research, including the Mahoney-Keck Center for Brain & Behavior, the Kavli Institute for Brain Science, the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease, the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimers Disease and the Aging Brain, the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, and the Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research. In addition, a new interdepartmental, university-wide Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior was formed in 1996. Because these various organizations are so effective at integrating different aspects of neuroscience research across the university, the original rationale for the existence of the broad-based Center for Neurobiology and Behavior became less compelling. Accordingly, it was replaced by a somewhat smaller, more focused Department of Neuroscience in July, 2007. Steven Siegelbaum a member of the P&S faculty since 1981, is professor of neuroscience and pharmacology and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute serves as Chair of the Department of Neuroscience.