Dear WCM Community,
It is exciting to be just days from commencement at Carnegie Hall, the culmination of years of study in our excellent programs created by our top tier faculty and supported by our dedicated staff. We honor everything the students accomplished and endured during a once-in-a-generation pandemic and we’re cheering them – and you – onward.
Our missions to care, discover, and teach are reverberating throughout NY and around the world. We continue to earn national recognition for pioneering discovery, and your extraordinary outcomes fill me with pride. Last month our memorable 6thdiversity week convened terrific scholars for keynotes and service awards. We also continued engaging diverse populations across the five boroughs to raise awareness about our growing practice presence in Brooklyn and Queens.
Our global impact couldn't be clearer. Through my recent trip to Qatar for their commencement, and the regular updates I receive from our international programs, like Weill Bugando in Tanzania, I am excited about how our recent graduates around the world are already carrying on our legacy. They are driving care, discoveries, and education in their local communities, and many starting their residencies are coming to US hospitals - including our own. WCM-Q's residency match rate doesn't look like an international medical program – it looks like that of a US medical school.
Below find more highlights of our students, faculty and partners’ progress and accomplishments since my last letter:
- Weill Cornell Medicine’s Center for Reproductive Medicine has been ranked by Newsweek as the #1 Fertility Clinic in the Nation for the second year in a row. Out of 100 fertility clinics on the magazine’s distinguished list, the Center once again won the premier spot.
- Weill Cornell Medical College’s Class of 2024 celebrated a successful Match Day, learning where they will be doing their internship and residency training. Of the students graduating in May, 107 garnered residencies, with 87 percent of them matching to top postgraduate residency programs. The institution’s social media posts covering the event garnered over 20,000 video views and 23,000 engagements across various channels.
- WCM-Q graduates are headed to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, Yale New Haven Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Case Western University Hospital, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, the University of Michigan, Hamad Medical Corporation, Sidra Medicine, and many other residencies.
- Enterprise Innovation reported 29 Patentable Invention Disclosures, 21- U.S. and 15 – International Issued Patents plus 6 – U.S. and 15 – International License Agreements.
- The Office of Staff Diversity, Inclusion & Engagement, the Office of Career Advancement, and the Human Resources Talent Acquisition team are working jointly with OneTen to implement Skills-First practices and opportunities and tap into OneTen talent for its recruitment efforts. OneTen is a nationwide coalition of 60+ organizations founded in 2020 by former CEO/Chairmen from Merck, Amex, IBM, Infor, and Amgen in response to the racial justice movement.
- In a “Good Morning America” segment, Dr. Mario Gaudino, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery, discussed his first-of-its-kind study among women and Black and Hispanic patients comparing the effectiveness of two surgical options used to treat coronary artery disease. The new clinical trial will help patients make better informed decisions.
- The 2024 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) competition made Award Offers to four students from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences; 6 students received Honorable Mentions. The NSF GRFP funds outstanding Master’s and Ph.D. graduate students conducting basic scientific research. This year, students from the BCMB, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, and Tri-I Chemical Biology Ph.D. programs were awarded NSF fellowships.
- The Committee of Review (COR) continues to meet monthly to evaluate faculty for higher level appointments and promotion. From January through March 2024, 42 recommendations were reviewed by the COR: 1 tenure action, 9 new appointments, and 32 promotions (26 employed by WCM and 16 from affiliates).
- Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our donors, alumni and friends, we raised more than $1.359 billion toward our We’re Changing Medicine campaign goal of $1.5 billion, with more than $120.3 million raised since the current fiscal year began on July 1, 2023.
The following pages are once again filled with stories of innovation, collaboration, achievement and recognition of unsung heroes, even more than I discussed in our April community town hall. I encourage you to honor them. Your collegiality makes our organization special, especially now.
I hope you will approach our challenges as opportunities. Feel free to share with me with your questions and observations. They will help me consider new approaches along the road ahead.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Harrington, M.D.
Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean
Weill Cornell Medicine
Provost for Medical Affairs
Cornell University