News

Diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease, a group of patients too ill for or not responding to other treatment options decided to take part in a clinical trial testing angiogenic gene therapy to help rebuild their damaged blood vessels. More than 10 years later, in a follow-up review of these patients, doctors at Baylor College of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College (where the clinical trial and review took place) and Stony Brook University Medical Center report the outcomes are promising and open the door for larger trials to begin.

Awards, honors, prizes and achievements for the week of Dec. 14 - Dec. 21.

The debilitating symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, appear to be increased by a lack of inflammation-reducing T cells, report scientists from the Methodist Neurological Institute in an upcoming print issue of The EMBO Molecular Medicine Journal.

Awards, honors, prizes and achievements for the week of Dec. 7 - Dec. 14

Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi, the Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, and surgeon-in-chief of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, has received the Grand Award of Merit from the American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit (ASILM), the Society's highest honor.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and the seventh most frequently diagnosed cancer. The most chemotherapy resistant form of DLBCL, called activated B-cell - DLBCL (ABC-DLBCL), remains a major therapeutic challenge. An international research team, led by two laboratories from Weill Cornell Medical College, has developed a new experimental drug therapy to target this aggressive form of lymphoma.

Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, speaks with Dr. Lewis Cantley, a powerhouse recruit from Harvard Medical School who has recently been named director of the newly-established Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

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.

More than 200 physicians, administrators, public officials and health care leaders attended the American College of Surgeons New York Surgical Quality Forum, titled "Improving Surgical Quality-A Data-Driven Approach," on Nov. 16 in Weill Cornell Medical College's Uris Auditorium.

Awards, honors, prizes and achievements for the week of Nov. 30 - Dec. 7.

Prostate cancer may still be a leading cause of cancer-related death among men, but Weill Cornell Medical College researchers believe personalized medicine may hold the key to better targeted therapies to reduce that devastating record.

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers Dr. Shahin Rafii and Dr. Xin-Yun Huang have been elected new Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society, for their significant contributions to the advancement of the biological sciences.

The Weill Cornell Physician Organization at Weill Cornell Medical College has joined more than 120 medical groups and health systems nationwide to launch the new health campaign Measure Up, Pressure Down aimed to improve high blood pressure prevention, detection and control. As part of the new campaign, organizations, such as Weill Cornell, have pledged to work toward achieving a goal of having 80 percent of high blood pressure patients in control of their condition by 2016.

Awards, honors, prizes and achievements for the week of Nov. 23 - Nov. 30.

Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and provost for medical affairs of Cornell University, is a winner of the Dr. Luis Federico Leloir Prize of International Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation from Argentina's Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation. One of Argentina's most prestigious awards, it recognizes Dr. Glimcher's contributions to enriching international scientific cooperation with the nation.

Today the American College of Surgeons (ACS) held the ACS Surgical Health Care Quality Forum New York, the 10th program in a series of events to drive national discussions on effective quality improvement methods that surgeons, physicians and hospitals are using to improve patient safety and reduce costs.

Advocates of planned home birth have emphasized its benefits for patient safety, patient satisfaction, cost effectiveness, and respect for women's rights. A clinical opinion paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology critically evaluates each of these claims in its effort to identify professionally appropriate responses of obstetricians and other concerned physicians to planned home birth.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q), in association with the Biotechnology Center, Ministry of Environment (BCQ-MoE), have announced that they have mapped the genome of the oryx for the first time, helping to secure the future of the animal and prevent its extinction.

Awards, honors, prizes and achievements for the week of Nov. 2 - Nov. 9.