Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) supports a new appropriation of $10 million in the SFY2027-2028 budget for the New York Fund for Innovation in Research and Scientific Talent (NYFIRST).
NYFIRST positions NYS as a national and international leader in research and innovative healthcare through the development and renovation of high technology laboratories, development of core facilities, the purchase of equipment, and hiring of support staff needed to develop and maintain those growing, thriving laboratories. Since 2018, NYFIRST enabled research institutions in New York State to create 201 new jobs, and transferred approximately $48 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funding to respective New York institutions.
One of NYFIRST’s program goals is to facilitate the development of, and access to, new treatments and cures by increasing the number of clinical trials that will be conducted in NYS. With the rigorous recruitment criteria – including a proven record of innovative research with clear potential for commercialization – NYS is poised to do just that. To date, there have been 29 patent applications filed by NYFIRST grantees, and approximately $120 million in external funding raised by the recruited (or retained) investigators after being hired by NY institutions.
NYS’s medical schools have complex infrastructures and deep-rooted partnerships within their communities. They are stable employers who continue to be imperative to the state’s economic future. Failure to invest in biomedical sciences will hinder NYS’s ability to attract top scientific talent from outside of New York, as well as retain top talent already here, who are receiving highly competitive offers from outside of the state.