Nearly a year into her tenure as Dean, Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher said Weill Cornell Medical College is poised at the vanguard of excellence in research, education and clinical care.
In the annual State of the Medical College address — her first as the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell — Dr. Glimcher reviewed the Medical College's accomplishments over the past year with the standing-room only crowd in Uris Auditorium Dec. 3.
Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, dean of Weill Cornell Medical College. Photo credit: Carlos Rene Perez
"I think that together, with your help over the last 11 months, we've made some serious progress towards our goals," Dr. Glimcher said.
From attracting a first-year medical class with the highest mean grade point average in Weill Cornell history, to recruiting one of the world's leading cancer researchers, to leading the expansion of Weill Cornell's clinical enterprise, Dr. Glimcher illustrated just how firm the Medical College's footing is in its tripartite mission.
"Here we have an institution with first-rate clinical care, medical education and a really unique opportunity to strengthen biomedical research," she said. "So we have an opportunity here to really bend the curve in academic medicine."
Despite the uncertain health care climate in the United States, medical students want a life in medicine for the same reason Dr. Glimcher and the physicians and scientists in the auditorium chose that path, she said: "To be agents of health and agents of hope."
To prepare the next generation of physicians and scientists, Weill Cornell has sought out new creative and educational partnerships with other universities and medical colleges, began revising the curriculum to integrate preclinical and clinical courses throughout all four years of instruction and continued implementation of iPads to augment instruction.
Praising the outgoing dean of the graduate school, Dr. David Hajjar, Dr. Glimcher touted the graduate school's "spectacular growth in both size and reputation over this last decade." She particularly lauded the community of M.D.-Ph.D. students attending the Tri-Institutional M.D.-Ph.D. program — besting the national average by 8 percent.
Much of the Medical College's successes are entwined with the prowess of its faculty, which is why Dr. Glimcher made faculty mentorship and development one of her highest priorities, she said.
The Office of Faculty Development was established this year and is led by Dr. Barbara Hempstead as associate dean of faculty development. Additional appointments this year include Dr. Rache Simmons and Dr. Carla Boutin-Foster as assistant deans of diversity, Dr. Michael Stewart as vice dean, Dr. John Leonard as associate dean of clinical research and Dr. Mary Simmerling as assistant dean of research integrity.
Dr. Glimcher also thanked Dr. Andrew Schafer, who is stepping down as chair of the Department of Medicine, Dr. John Savarese, who is ending his tenure as chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Dr. Hajjar for their many years of service.
As Weill Cornell leadership begins the recruitment process for these three positions, there is a robust effort to attract the world's leading scientific minds to the Medical College to strengthen its biomedical research enterprise.
The first of these powerhouse recruits came in September with Dr. Lewis Cantley, one of the world's leading cancer researchers, appointed as director of the newly-established Cancer Center at Weill Cornell and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
The newly-established Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI), led by Dr. Costantino Iadecola, the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology, George C. Cotzias Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and professor of neurology and neuroscience, will focus on neurodegenerative diseases. Both the Cancer Center and the BMRI will be structured as interdisciplinary research hubs, fostering the collaboration between basic and translational scientists and clinicians to more efficiently and effectively spark research discoveries from bench to bedside and bedside to bench.
"We need to create what I think is a new paradigm in translational research, and that is to think about our community as having no boundaries," Dr. Glimcher said, "to recognize that patients are not just a collection of diseases, that having one disease alters the risk of having another disease. There is so much in common between molecular and cellular mechanisms across different diseases."
Dr. Glimcher identified six research areas Weill Cornell is emphasizing in its enterprise: neurobiology, cancer, cardiovascular biology/metabolic syndrome, precision medicine and stem cell biology. Medical breakthroughs in these areas will be the product of unprecedented collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, including the Cancer Center, BMRI and a new Joint Clinical Trials Office, providing patients with quicker access to new drugs and therapies.
Discoveries made by researchers in the lab are being applied by clinicians at the patient's bedside to an even greater extent as Weill Cornell expands its clinical footprint, Dr. Glimcher said. The Iris Cantor Men's Health Center on East 61st Street between 1st and York Avenues opened in July, and the Weill Cornell Physician Organization opened an additional office on Broadway and 84th Street last month.
"We are the jewel in the crown, academic medical centers are," Dr. Glimcher said, "and that is not only because of what we do. We take care of patients and discover new cures and treatments, but it's also because we are an engine for revenue," referring to the economic activity the Medical College produces for New York.
But it's also a challenging time to be in medicine, she said. Markets are getting more competitive, new paradigms for how to deliver care are being developed and academic medical centers need to be able to attract and retain faculty, which requires a plethora of resources. And yet government funding for biomedical research is declining.
"So, we've done a lot of great things," she said. "I think this has been a good year, but we have a lot of challenges ahead of us too. This is, no question, a difficult environment in which to thrive as an academic medical center."
But it also provides an opportunity, she said. The Medical College is focusing efforts on health care reform so as to not just be ahead of the curve, but also lead the way. Among those efforts is the establishment of the Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy, led by Dr. Rainu Kaushal, the Frances and John L. Loeb Professor of Medical Informatics, professor of medicine, pediatrics and public health, who will work to improve health and health care through the use of informatics and technology.
These efforts in medical education, biomedical research and clinical care are also in partnership with Weill Cornell's collaborations with Cornell University and The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. And Weill Cornell continues its global initiatives at Weill Bugando in Tanzania, Gheskio in Haiti, Brazil, Vellore and in Qatar — Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar celebrated 10 years of training doctors this year.
In all, Dr. Glimcher said, her vision for Weill Cornell becoming among the best academic medical centers in the world is within sight.
"Robert Browning said you should measure the height of a person's mind by the length of the shadow it cast," she said. "The measure of a community is how well it enriches the lives of all its members. I have discovered over the last year that the Weill Cornell Medical College community is truly remarkable in this, and it is a privilege, honor and a delight to be a part of it."