News & Events

Nearly 20 years ago, a man named Timothy Ray Brown who was living with HIV and cancer, underwent two courses of stem cell transplantation to treat his acute myeloid leukemia. By using donor cells that lacked a key molecule needed for HIV to enter and infect immune cells, the procedures not only led to remission of his cancer, but also cured him of HIV.

When SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, began spreading worldwide in 2020, many research teams immediately set to work developing a vaccine against it. Building on decades of previous work on mRNA technology and on other viral vaccines, including HIV, they achieved their goal within the year. The most widely used mRNA vaccine design contains the genetic instructions for...

A multi-institutional team led by Weill Cornell Medicine has received a five-year, $14.9 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to find ways to remove latent HIV from the cells of individuals with HIV. The team aims to use a personalized medicine approach to transform the management of HIV into effective cures.

Over 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV, according to the World Health...

Neurons in the gut produce a molecule that plays a pivotal role in shaping the gut’s immune response during and after inflammation, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings suggest that targeting these neurons and the molecules they produce could open the door to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other disorders driven by gut inflammation.

Hundreds of millions of neurons make up the enteric nervous system, the “second brain” of the...

Dr. Rainu Kaushal, a distinguished health services researcher, information scientist and physician leader, has been named senior associate dean of health data science, effective immediately.

In this new role, Dr. Kaushal will help Weill Cornell Medicine harness data science opportunities in service of better patient outcomes. She will work across academic departments to develop the institution’s strategic vision for data science,...

Dr. Daniel R. Alonso, dean emeritus of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and professor emeritus of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, died July 31 in Norfolk, Va., at age 88. An esteemed physician, administrator and teacher, Dr. Alonso served both institutions with distinction for more than 40 years.

A native of Argentina, Dr. Alonso started medical school at age 17 enthusiastic about medicine but unsure about what specialty to practice, recalled his son,...

COVID-19 prevention methods such as masking and social distancing also suppressed the circulation of common respiratory diseases, leaving young children lacking immunity to pathogens they otherwise would have been exposed to, a new multi-center clinical research study reveals. The investigators say their findings help explain the large post-pandemic rebound in these diseases and enable more accurate predictions for the future.

By understanding differences in how people’s brains are wired, clinicians may be able to predict who would benefit from a self-guided anxiety care app, according to a new analysis from a clinical trial led by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators. The preliminary study suggested that young people with weaker connections between two brain areas involved in both attending to and regulating responses to anxiety were more likely to benefit from a self-guided anxiety care...

A new study reveals that some men who are diagnosed with “Grade Group one” (GG1) prostate cancer may actually be at higher risk than biopsy results suggest, according to research led by Weill Cornell Medicine, University Hospitals Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University. The researchers conclude that relying on biopsy grade alone can lead to underestimating disease risk and misclassifying individuals who may benefit from definitive treatment with either surgery or radiation. Biopsies...

Dr. Mohammad Arifuzzaman, an assistant professor of immunology in medicine, was named a 2025 AAI ASPIRE Award winner by the American Association of Immunologists. The award recognizes up to six outstanding early career investigators for research accomplishments and professional promise in the field of immunology.

Dr. Veronika Horn, a postdoctoral associate...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have discovered that PD-1—a molecule best known for putting the brakes on immune cells—also plays a critical role in helping T cells become long-term immune defenders in the skin. Early during infection, PD-1 acts like a steering wheel, guiding T cells to become protective resident memory T cells (TRM) that stay in place. These cells remember invading germs or cancer and quickly mount a response if that enemy reappears.

The preclinical...

A $1.1 million grant from the parent-caregiver-led Rare Bird Foundation to Weill Cornell Medicine is supporting the launch of a natural history study for a rare neurodevelopmental disorder that causes developmental delays and seizures called MEF2C Haploinsufficiency syndrome (MCHS).

Currently, there are no specific therapies for MCHS, which affects about 400 people worldwide. Patients with the condition may experience developmental delays,...

The aging liver undergoes dramatic changes in its functional organization and other key attributes, which may underpin its increasing susceptibility to disease, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings suggest the possibility of future therapies that would block or reduce such changes to treat or prevent age-related chronic liver diseases—effectively making the liver more youthful and resilient.

In the...

A protein called PAR1 helps lymphatic vessels structurally transform to boost fluid drainage and support healing when the lungs are injured according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine. Injury—whether by infection, toxins, or trauma—can cause fluid buildup in the lungs, making it hard to breathe. In response, the body’s lymphatic system, a network of vessels, tissues and organs, ramps up to clear inflammation. Excess fluid called lymph is removed from the body's tissues and returned...

A pairing of two experimental drugs inhibits tumor growth and blocks drug-induced resistance in ovarian cancer, according to a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The research reveals a promising strategy against this hard-to-treat malignancy, and more generally demonstrates a powerful new approach for the identification of effective regimens to treat genetically diverse cancers.

Ovarian cancer is genetically diverse in the sense that it can be driven by...

While glucose, or sugar, is a well-known fuel for the brain, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have demonstrated that electrical activity in synapses—the junctions between neurons where communication occurs—can lead to the use of lipid or fat droplets as an energy source.

The study, published July 1 in Nature Metabolism, challenges “the long-standing dogma that the brain doesn’t burn fat,” said principal investigator...

Academic medical centers could transform patient care by adopting principles from learning health systems principles, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of California, San Diego. In this approach, information from electronic health records, clinical trials and day-to-day hospital operations is analyzed in real-time to uncover insights that continuously improve patient care.

The perspective...

A pretreatment step could help transplanted pancreatic islets survive longer in patients with type 1 diabetes, according to a new preclinical study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. One combination of small molecules extended the cells’ lives in female mice, and adding two molecules to the mixture boosted cell survival in male mice.

The findings, published on June 24 in Cell Stem Cell, could allow...

Metastasis. It’s the word cancer patients dread most – and the scan with ominous black spots showing the disease has spread. For too many people, metastatic cancer is kept at bay only for a short time, with chemotherapy and radiation, before the disease returns or the harsh treatments fatally weaken the body.

For more than 20 years,...