Dr. Mark Rubin At White House for Meeting With Precision Medicine Experts
As director of the Institute for Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell, Dr. Mark Rubin knows full well the promise of harnessing each patient's own genetic profile to individualize treatments and therapies. The question was whether the federal government, which invests some $30 billion in medical research, would back this new scientific frontier.
That answer may come soon. On Jan. 30, President Barack Obama called on Congress to approve $215 million in new spending to advance precision medicine and help scientists learn how to tailor treatments to patients' individual genes.
What made the announcement more exciting, Dr. Rubin said, was that he was one of some 60 experts in the country invited to the White House to personally watch President Obama detail his ambitious precision medicine initiative.
"It was a moving presentation, because he spoke very articulately about precision medicine," said Dr. Rubin, who is also the Homer T. Hirst III Professor of Oncology in Pathology and a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine. "The plan he outlined is an almost perfect reflection of what we've worked hard to develop here at Weill Cornell, which is really nice because not only was he thinking about the importance of using novel technologies and next-generation sequencing, but he also really wants to integrate this into patient care."
Early last week, Dr. Mark Rubin received a cryptic email inviting him to a meeting hosted Jan. 30 at the White House. The email didn't say what the meeting was about, and directed him to RSVP by giving his social security number. At first, Dr. Rubin dismissed it as a hoax.
A follow-up email arrived a few days later, explaining that the president wanted to gather experts to discuss efforts to improve healthcare, but there were no other specifics. Curious, Dr. Rubin decided to attend, and when he reached the White House gates, he recognized many people, including National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins and the top investigators in genomic research.
"To represent our institution there at the White House, to see the luminaries in the room and to hear the announcement that the government is moving forward with this initiative was extremely exciting," Dr. Rubin said, "because I think and hope that we will be part of the national dialogue to advance this field."
Additional Awards and Honors
Dr. Elizabeth K. Arleo, an assistant professor of radiology, was elected to the American Association for Women Radiologists’ Board of Directors on Dec. 2. The association was established in 1981 to increase visibility of women in the field of radiology, create a mentorship program to advance careers of female radiologists and sponsor activities to promote networking and education for female radiologists.
Dr. Neil Khilnani, an associate professor of clinical radiology, was selected to be president-elect of the American College of Phlebology, effective Jan. 1. The American College of Phlebology is North America's largest society for physicians involved in caring for acute and chronic venous disorders.
Dr. Seung Koo Lee, an instructor of cell biology in radiology, received the Korean American Society in Biotech & Pharmaceuticals Fellowship on Nov. 8. The society works to help further the careers of Korean-Americans in biotechnology or pharmaceutical fields and strives toward new drug discovery, technology transfer, drug development and commercialization of drugs by Korean companies.