Gift Will Fund Studies of Brain Development and the Origins of Psychiatric Illness
NEW YORK (Aug. 16, 2011) — A gift from the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. family's Canadian foundation, The Sackler Foundation–La Fondation Sackler, will establish and endow two associate professorships in the Department of Psychiatry and at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College. The professorships will be given to accomplished junior scientists who are exploring how the brain functions, develops and goes awry in mental illness and developmental disorders.
Both internal and external candidates are being identified as recipients of these prestigious professorships. When they are named, the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Associate Professors in Psychiatry will carry out research at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, says, "We are very grateful to the Sackler family for their leadership in creating, in the Sackler Institute at Weill Cornell, a rich environment for interdisciplinary psychiatric research. The Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Associate Professors in Psychiatry will join a talented team dedicated to providing new insights and discoveries for preventive and personalized medicine."
In recognition of the longstanding support of the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. family, Weill Cornell is naming its summer institute on the biology of developmental disorders The Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Summer Institute. The name change will take effect in 2012. The summer institute was founded in 2002 and is directed by Dr. B.J. Casey, director of the Sackler Institute and the Sackler Professor of Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College. Its primary mission is to mentor and train the next generation of basic and physician scientists in the areas of development, mental health and illness.
In related news, Weill Cornell and Columbia University Medical Center recently announced that The Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology has been awarded to The Rockefeller University's Dr. Fernando Nottebohm for his seminal work in songbirds that has led to the discovery of neuronal replacement.
The Sackler Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College
The Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, established and endowed in 1996 by The Sackler Foundation–La Fondation Sackler and certain Mortimer D. Sackler family members and related entities, is focused on research and training using the techniques of brain imaging, human genetics, electrophysiology and behavioral methods to study typical and atypical human brain development. The Sackler Institute at Weill Cornell is one of six Sackler Institutes, programs and centers; others include Columbia University Medical Center; Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow; University of Sussex; and McGill University.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Cornell University is the first in the U.S. to offer a M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.
John Rodgers
jdr2001@med.cornell.edu