News & Events

Robert J. “Bob” Appel ’53, a vice chair of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Board of Fellows, Cornell trustee emeritus and presidential councillor, died Nov. 19 in New York, at age 91.

An active and enthusiastic Cornell alumnus, Appel was a devoted champion, distinguished leader and esteemed benefactor of the Ithaca and Weill Cornell Medicine campuses. He was a prodigious advocate of living by example and, alongside his beloved wife Helen ’55, took immense pride in advancing Cornell’s mission...

A form of blood cancer known as mantle cell lymphoma is critically dependent on a protein that coordinates gene expression, such that blocking its activity with an experimental drug dramatically slows the growth of this lymphoma in preclinical tests, according to a study from Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

The discovery, reported Oct. 25 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could lead to new mantle cell lymphoma drugs as...

An unusual type of antibody that even at miniscule levels neutralizes the Zika virus and renders the virus infection undetectable in preclinical models has been identified by a team led by Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and National Institutes of Health (NIH) investigators. 

Because Zika can cause birth defects when passed from a pregnant person to their fetus, this discovery could lead to the development of therapies to protect babies from the potentially devastating...

When ophthalmologist Dr. John Pena was a first-year resident, he helped to treat a child with a form of cancer that originates in the back of the eye. Dr. Pena used advanced technology to see inside the eye’s clear, gel-like structure called the vitreous, and found abundant microscopic structures that transport biological information from one cell to another. The patient’s case inspired Dr. Pena, then a Weill Cornell Medicine physician-...

The Cornell Board of Trustees and Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Fellows have approved the appointment of physician-scientist Dr. Francis Lee, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine, as interim dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and interim provost for medical affairs of Cornell University, effective Jan. 1.

Dr. Lee, who is also psychiatrist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, will succeed...

Error-prone DNA replication and repair may lead to mutations and cancer in individuals who inherit a mutant copy of the BRCA1 gene, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The discovery has potential implications for preventing the development of cancer in patients with these mutations.

The study, published Sept. 12 in Molecular Cell, provides new insights into why individuals who...

After a 16-year tenure leading Weill Cornell Medicine’s finances and operations and overseeing a dynamic expansion across New York City, Stephen M. Cohen on Sept. 30 retired as the institution’s executive vice provost.

Cohen oversaw a range of central administrative departments, including Capital Planning, Facilities Management and Campus Operations, Environmental Health and Safety, Finance, Budget and Financial Strategy, Human Resources, Housing, Risk Management, and Information...

A multidisciplinary team of Weill Cornell Medicine researchers has received a five-year $5.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health to fund a center aimed at developing messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to deter cancer development in at-risk groups.

The Weill Cornell Medicine CAP-IT Center for LNP RNA Immunoprevention was selected as one of two...

A typical gut bacterium that can spread through the body and cause a serious infection resists natural immune defenses and antibiotics by enhancing its protective outer layer, known as the cell envelope, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The finding suggests possible new ways to target these bacterial infections.

The research, published Nov. 10 in mBio, illuminates some of the underlying...

The mechanism by which fat-related molecules called lipids regulate pacemaker ion channel proteins, which help control the heart rhythm, has been revealed in a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

In the study, published Nov. 9 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, the researchers used advanced methods including cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to show in high-resolution detail how certain...

Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $8.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support economic analysis, simulation modeling and other research approaches to help stem the national opioid epidemic.    

“We’ve continued to witness the very disturbing increase in opioid overdoses over the last seven years, fueled by more fentanyl in the drug supply,” said principal investigator...

COVID-19 patients placed on ventilators can take a long time to regain consciousness. New research from Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital is now illustrating that these delays may serve a purpose: protecting the brain from oxygen deprivation.

The existence of such a brain-preserving state could explain why some patients wake up days or even weeks after they stop receiving ventilation, and it suggests that physicians should take these...

NEW YORK (Nov. 3, 2022) — Dr. Pranita Tamma, a physician-scientist whose research focuses on identifying mechanisms of drug resistance and optimizing the use of antibiotics to treat infections in children, has been awarded the seventh annual Gale and Ira Drukier Prize in Children’s Health Research, Weill Cornell Medicine announced today.

The Drukier Prize honors an...

A type of dietary fiber called inulin, commonly used in health supplements and known to have certain anti-inflammatory properties, can also promote an allergy-related type of inflammation in the lung and gut, and other parts of the body, according to a preclinical study from researchers in the Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation and Jill Roberts Institute for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine and in the Boyce Thompson Institute on Cornell’s Ithaca campus.

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Innate lymphoid cells are a recently discovered family of white blood cells that reside in the skin, gastrointestinal tract, airways and other barrier tissues of the body. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) have an essential role in protecting these tissues from parasitic infections as well as damage associated with allergic inflammation and asthma, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

The finding resolves a controversy about the possible redundancy of...

New York, NY (November 1, 2022) – NewYork-Presbyterian is expanding its renowned heart transplant program, one of the largest and most experienced heart transplant programs in the nation, and increasing access to its world-class heart failure care.

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have developed a computational method to map the architecture of human tissues in unprecedented detail. Their approach promises to accelerate studies on organ-scale cellular interactions and could enable powerful new diagnostic strategies for a wide range of diseases.

The method, published Oct. 31 in Nature Methods, grew out of the scientists’ frustration...

Dr. Brenna Farmer has been named chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, effective Oct. 11. Dr. Farmer, who is also an associate professor of clinical emergency medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, most recently served as vice chief of clinical services in the Department of Emergency Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Hospital.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Farmer into...

By linking a national vascular registry with medical data records in Medicare claims for patients who underwent endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, a team of researchers from across the country was able to identify which devices posed the most risk for reintervention.

The study, published Oct. 25 in BMJ, is the first to use linked registry claims data for long-term device-specific surveillance after surgery for...

Dr. Holly G. Prigerson, the Irving Sherwood Wright Professor in Geriatrics and co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award to study psychosocial influences on, and outcomes of, end-stage cancer care.

Funded by the NIH, the award supports accomplished...