Nearly 6,200 people applied to join Weill Cornell Medicine's Class of 2019. Just 14 percent of those aspiring physicians were invited to come to campus for an interview — part of a winnowing process that ultimately selected the talented group of 106 first-years that matriculated this fall. But for the hopeful future doctors navigating the medical school application system, it can be a challenge to get a comprehensive picture of the institutions where they aim to study, notes assistant dean of admissions Lori Nicolaysen. "With undergrad you get the chance to see the school before you apply, but with medical school you don't," Nicolaysen says. "One of the questions that premed students always have is, 'How can I choose where to go, when I don't get the kind of interaction and exposure I had applying to college?'"

Luckily for applicants — and for the admissions staff — the medical college has a not-so-secret weapon: its current students. Throughout the academic year, med students volunteer their time to help the next crop of Weill Cornellians get to know the school. They give tours to applicants during their interview visits, have lunch with them, host them during the formal "revisit" weekend for admitted students, and more. "They're a critical part of it, to the point where we've been changing our interview scheduling because we want students to be involved," says Nicolaysen. "For applicants, student enthusiasm is a big piece. They fill out surveys after they come here, and they're happiest when they get to talk to a range of students — like if they get to talk to both a first year and a fourth year, that's wonderful."

During revisit weekend last spring, Natalie Wong '18 hosted an admitted student; the two hit it off, and she was pleased to learn that the young woman decided to enroll. "I was able to make her feel at home here, and that goes a long way," says Wong, who has also given tours and attended lunches for interviewees. "It's hard for undergraduates to get an idea of what medical school is like. Even at the end of my own admissions cycle, I had no idea of what I was getting myself into, so it felt good to offer real expertise and insight. It was an opportunity to give back a little of the experience I've gained."

Like more than a third of her class, Wong also served as an Admissions Ambassador, a semi-formal system that asks first-years to indicate areas of expertise they're willing to share with prospective students via phone or e-mail. Among her topics: hailing from the Mid-Atlantic region and matriculating with no fixed idea of a future specialty. Others have fielded queries on such issues as taking a gap year, earning an M.D.-Ph.D., being a married student, and having a passion for music. "You get a lot of different questions," says Shahdabul Faraz '18, who weighed in on being an international student and having an interest in global health, "and I think that reflects how diverse the incoming class is each year."

Inside scoop: Owen Drinkwater '19 (in black T-shirt) lunches with prospective Weill Cornellians. Photo credit: John Abbott

In addition to participating in tours and lunches, Faraz helped organize last year's revisit weekend, which included outings to a Broadway show, a comedy club, and the Metropolitan Museum. One of his classmates, Simone Elder '17, fielded Ambassador questions about being an underrepresented minority — she's African American — as well as coming to New York from the South.

"The medical school application process can be daunting, because there are so many options, so many decisions you can make," Elder says. "I want prospective students to know that this is a great institution, and they can do whatever they want coming out of here. I think it's important to spread that enthusiasm, but also to be realistic — to have peer-to-peer contact, instead of just a glossy brochure."

Like Wong, Elder was gratified to facilitate a student's choice of Weill Cornell Medicine: a young man from a similar background to her own, with whom she communicated almost weekly during the application process, is now in the Class of '19. "The admissions staff don't live our medical school experience, and neither do our professors," she says. "We have the best understanding of what these students could experience and achieve here. At the end of the day, we're their richest resource — and we're really motivated, because we're interacting with our future peers."

— Beth Saulnier

This story first appeared in Weill Cornell Medicine, Vol. 14, No.3.

BY JENNIFER MOON
PORTRAITS BY JOHN ABBOTT

It has been a dramatic transformation: from four temporary classrooms to a soaring campus on the Upper East Side, Weill Cornell has evolved over more than a century to meet dizzying changes in medical education, research and healthcare. Yet the sizable growth it has seen since its founding in 1898 — of expanded real estate, rapid advances in technology, and visionary philanthropy — has always been motivated by a desire to serve patients. Today, a new, unified identity as Weill Cornell Medicine reinforces the connection to those patients, who have been the constant, driving force behind the institution's mission.

Succinctly uniting Weill Cornell Medicine's three essential principles — to care, discover and teach — the new name, launched at the beginning of October, is the culmination of a strategic expansion that has positioned Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Weill Cornell Physician Organization to not only thrive in today's evolving healthcare landscape, but to lead the way in shaping medicine for the future. With history as precedent, Weill Cornell Medicine will surely succeed.

Weill Cornell Medicine has changed dramatically since those early days. In the first century since its founding, Cornell University Medical College moved from its initial location downtown into a newly built academic medical center on the Upper East Side. It formed overseas military hospital units during both world wars, weathered economic booms and downturns, and entered the new millennium as the newly renamed Weill Cornell Medical College. Already the 21st century has seen the creation of a branch campus in Qatar, a reinvigorated commitment to global health, two new buildings that truly embody the cutting edge in clinical care and biomedical research, and now, a Weill Cornell Medicine brand that fully captures the breadth of its endeavors.The first students to enroll in what was then Cornell University Medical College were taught in four temporary classrooms on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital. It was 1898, and many of their professors had recently seceded from nearby New York University to form their own medical school just a few blocks away. Anticipation was high for a new building being constructed on First Avenue between 27th and 28th streets, which would offer the latest in medical education and patient care. Among the planned amenities were recently invented X-ray machines and an early air-conditioning system that would afford students the opportunity for year-round investigations in gross anatomy.

Yet its foundation has stayed constant. Long before the medical school formalized a mission statement, the desire to improve the care available to patients drove all its efforts. In 1941, for example, Dean Dr. William Ladd wrote: "In the long run all of the teaching and investigative work of the school is directed toward the improvement of the healing art. To teach the art of healing and to restore the sick human being to as near a state of good health and able citizenship as possible is our basic reason for existence."

That commitment to patient care runs through the history of Weill Cornell Medicine to the present day. Back at the turn of the 20th century, many medical schools were for-profit institutions that focused little attention on science or clinical training. All too few students had actual contact with patients, and many sat in lecture halls for six or seven hours a day.

From the start, Weill Cornell Medicine was different. Its students, which included a large proportion of women at a time when most medical schools were single-sex, met some of the toughest admissions requirements in New York. They were taught the scientific basis of medicine in labs, dissecting rooms, and small-group study sessions, and they learned how to care for patients while shadowing their professors on the hospital wards and participating in weekly medical clinics. Generous support from the school's founding benefactor, Col. Oliver Payne, guaranteed that Weill Cornell Medicine could maintain its high academic standards without any sacrifices in quality.

Students and faculty learned and taught medicine, while firmly engaged with the needs of the surrounding community. Bellevue, the medical school's first site for clinical teaching and a bustling public hospital, provided a temporary haven for many indigent patients during a period of rapid industrialization and severe overcrowding in the city. The distinguished physicians on Weill Cornell Medicine's early faculty, such as the pioneering surgeon Dr. Lewis Stimson and the cardiologist Dr. Lewis Conner, served the elite of New York by making house calls; they also provided charity care at Weill Cornell Medicine's free dispensary for the impoverished.

In addition, Weill Cornell Medicine was one of the first medical schools in the country to address the needs of the emerging middle class. An innovative experiment called the Cornell Pay Clinic opened in 1921, charging moderate fees and offering comprehensive healthcare to middle-income patients who could not afford private physicians but were not entitled to free care. Initially, it charged an admission fee of $1 per visit, plus additional fees for special tests or services, ranging from 25 cents for prescription medications to $25 for an X-ray of the gastrointestinal tract. On the day it opened, the clinic was overwhelmed by visits and had to turn patients away in order to maintain the quality of care. Compared to similar facilities scattered around the country that were targeted at middle-class patients, the Cornell Pay Clinic offered both diagnosis and treatment by specialists in a private office environment. This model allowed for a personal relationship between doctor and patient — an amenity that was otherwise available only to the wealthy.

The Academic Medical Center: A New Focal Point For Education And Research

Discover: The Belfer Research Building, which opened early last year, serves as the hub for Weill Cornell Medicine's translational efforts. Dr. Dilek Colak, an assistant professor of neuroscience, in the lab with research associate Monica Ferrer Scorro in the research building.

A pivotal moment for Weill Cornell Medicine came in 1932 with the opening of a new medical center on York Avenue, built in partnership with New York Hospital. The decision to build a medical school and a teaching hospital adjacent to each other, made a decade before, was somewhat of a novelty. Academic medical centers had taken root in Europe, but were only gradually starting to emerge in the United States after the publication of Abraham Flexner's highly influential 1910 report on medical education. Weill Cornell Medicine's goal in tying itself even more tightly to New York Hospital, its clinical affiliate starting in 1912–1913, was to create a medical institution of the future. Its vision, which continues to this day, was to advance the field of medicine by acting on multiple fronts simultaneously: patient care, education, and research.

With a new medical center came major innovations. Dean Canby Robinson reorganized the faculty to create a full-time system of professors who received a salary and were expected to devote themselves primarily to teaching and research. Dr. George Heuer, chair of surgery, also introduced the first surgical residency program in New York City. Residents began receiving training for five or six years, as opposed to two, and were housed in the medical center, sometimes so successfully that they neglected to go outside for months at a time. They learned by performing most of the department's procedures themselves, while older surgeons were asked to serve primarily as advisors and assistants. These revolutionary changes soon spread to other departments, improving the standards of patient care and, in conjunction with sparkling new research laboratories and teaching facilities, transforming Weill Cornell Medicine into a genuinely modern medical institution.

A Growing Presence

Today Weill Cornell Medicine is leading the way in the development of precision medicine, an approach that aims to provide each patient with the right treatment at exactly the right time. By analyzing the complex interplay between genetics, lifestyle, and environment that makes each person unique, physicians and scientists are moving away from a one-size-fits-all mentality and entering into a new era of personalized, tailored treatments for individuals.

The tools that are making this transformation possible — from sophisticated imaging technologies to genomics — were unimaginable to bedside physicians practicing a hundred years earlier. The size and scope of today's medical schools would also prove astonishing to the faculty and students who moved into their state-of-the-art medical center in 1932, constructed at a cost of about $30 million, including land, buildings, and equipment.

Fueling Weill Cornell Medicine's considerable growth since that time was a constellation of forces that were shaping medicine, science and healthcare nationally. One of the most significant was an exponential increase in federal funding for medical research in the years following World War II. Between 1932 and 1957, the dollars spent on research at then-New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center increased by 3,000 percent, largely due to an influx of funds from the federal government that continued through the 1960s. Weill Cornell Medicine was able to build a robust research infrastructure, recruit new investigators, and direct more resources toward finding better treatments for disease. At the same time, biomedical research became increasingly focused on the subcellular level, with scientists scrutinizing proteins and genes to understand how diseases develop. The basic sciences blossomed in this fertile environment, and in 1952 the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences was established in New York City. Its students benefited from Weill Cornell Medicine's close partnership with the cancer-focused Sloan Kettering Institute — one that continues today in concert with neighbor The Rockefeller University — and received advanced training in fields including microbiology, biophysics and biochemistry.

Teach: Today, under a new, patient-focused curriculum, medical students are exposed to healthcare delivery from their first day of school. Under the direction of Dr. Marc Dinklin '02, an assistant professor of ophthalmology, John Paddock '17, uses a special lens to look at the retina of ophthalmology fellow Dr. Ajay Jurangal in the Weill Greenberg Center.

The passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, which provided federal health insurance to new populations of elderly and low-income patients, had a huge impact on Weill Cornell Medicine. Patient care became even more central to its mission, and a precursor to today's Physician Organization was quickly formed to ensure that all patients received the same high quality of care regardless of their ability to pay. Like other medical schools nationwide, Weill Cornell Medicine saw a dramatic increase in clinical revenues that mirrored the explosive growth in federal research funding of previous decades. Its York Avenue campus expanded, with the addition of the Wood Library and Research Building, Griffis Faculty Club and William Hale Harkness Building. In keeping with the spirit of the 1960s, students began playing a much more active role in their education and initiated community health projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and on the island of Jamaica to address the needs of under-served populations.

The makeup of Weill Cornell Medicine's student body itself became much more diverse with the launch of a robust affirmative action program. Dr. Roscoe Conkling Giles, the medical school's first African American graduate, received his medical degree in 1915, but between then and the 1970s, less than a dozen people of African descent had graduated as physicians. Through a summer research pipeline program, which continues today, as well as targeted academic and counseling services, Weill Cornell Medicine increased the number of students from groups underrepresented in medicine to at least 13 percent of each entering class during the 1970s. Weill Cornell Medicine's decision to keep admissions standards for minority and non-minority students the same contributed to a high level of academic success among its entire student body and led to a substantial increase in the number of African American graduates.

Despite these positive developments, Weill Cornell Medicine faced major challenges starting in the 1970s that continued for several decades. Federal funding for research stagnated, the nation's healthcare spending spiraled out of control and the government and private insurers began looking for ways to cut healthcare costs. Like other medical schools and hospitals, Weill Cornell Medicine responded to these financial constraints creatively, by becoming more cost-effective and resourceful in the teaching and practice of medicine. It forged mutually beneficial partnerships with its neighboring institutions and established programs that capitalized on each of their various strengths, such as the Tri-Institutional M.D.-Ph.D. Program with The Rockefeller University and the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. The merger that resulted in the formation of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in 1996 represented a different approach, aimed at streamlining operations and consolidating departments across previously separate institutions.

Private philanthropy was crucial in propelling Weill Cornell Medicine, renamed in 1998 in honor of Joan and Sanford I. Weill, toward the new millennium. Extraordinarily generous and timely gifts from Ruth Uris, the Weills, Maurice and Corinne Greenberg, the Atlantic Philanthropies, Robert and Renée Belfer, and many others enabled the medical school to reach beyond the status quo and work toward actively shaping its own future. And that future became much brighter as a series of three strategic plans were implemented in succession.

Vigorous growth occurred in the basic sciences and medical education in the late 1990s. Today, under a new, patient-focused curriculum, medical students are exposed to healthcare delivery from their first day of school. As they follow a panel of patients with chronic illnesses for all four years of their medical education, students come to understand healthcare delivery as well as the physical, social and psychological effects of disease. They develop a powerful foundation for their medical practice, learning the value of treating patients holistically.

Clinical care continues to be the economic engine by which the institution is able to deliver that education. Construction of the Weill Greenberg Center in 2007 provided a headquarters for ambulatory care— expansion that has continued beyond campus. Since 2013, Weill Cornell Medicine has added more than 40 medical practices in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens and extended the services offered by Weill Cornell Imaging at NewYork-Presbyterian. More than 150 physicians at NewYork- Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital and a growing number from NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens also supplement the ranks of Weill Cornell Medicine faculty.

Healthcare, too, supports Weill Cornell Medicine's deep portfolio of biomedical research. The Belfer Research Building, which opened early last year, serves as the hub for Weill Cornell Medicine's translational efforts, housing some of the more than 50 physicians and scientists recruited since 2012. These investigators are spurring new biomedical research discoveries and applying them to patient care.

Today, Weill Cornell Medicine initiatives touch patients as far afield as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti and Houston. Their goals — to bring new medicines and therapies to patients as quickly and efficiently as possible, to understand how and why disease strikes and to train the next generation of healthcare leaders — have become global in scale.

Yet those core aspirations — to care, discover and teach — have remained unchanged since the very beginning.

Jennifer Moon is the co-author, with Dr. Antonio Gotto, dean emeritus and a professor of medicine, of Weill Cornell Medicine: A History of Cornell's Medical School, to be published in Spring 2016 by Cornell University Press.

This story first appeared in Weill Cornell Medicine,Vol. 14, No. 3.

On the eve of their commencement, students from Weill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences were recognized for their outstanding achievements.

More than 100 medical and graduate students received special awards, prizes, certificates and the Weill Cornell seal during two ceremonies on May 27 in Uris Auditorium. The awards acknowledge the students' exceptional academic achievement, scholarship, research, teaching and service. The ceremony also honored other students, alumni, faculty and staff.

The following is a complete list of all of the award winners:

Weill Cornell Medical College

Student Awards

The Coryell Prize in Surgery
Thomas Edward Heineman

The Coryell Prize in Medicine
Ersilia Marie DeFilippis

The Alfred Moritz Michaelis Prize in Medicine
Gregory Campbell McDermott

The Oskar Diethelm Prize for Excellence in Psychiatry
Samuel J. Boas
Elizabeth N. Madva

The Joan Severino Parisi Prize in Internal Medicine
Jana Beth Zielonka

The David and Gladys Drusin Memorial Prize
Alec James Swinburne

The T. Campbell Thompson Prize for Excellence in Orthopedic Surgery
Aleksey Dvorzhinskiy

The Mitchell Spivak Memorial Prize in Pediatrics
Miriam Samstein

The James A. Moore Scholarship
Jiahui Lin

The Gustav Seeligmann Prize for Efficiency in Obstetrics
Alexandra Edlyn Fleary

The Henry C. and Anne Hayworth First Honor Prize
Joseph Koressel

The Sidney and Viola Borkon Memorial Prize
Salvatore D'Amato

The George S. Meister Prize in Pediatrics
Gabriel B. Loeb

The Elise Strang L'Esperance Prize in Public Health
Sarah Jane Coates
Lea Mollie Danielle Bornstein

The George G. Reader Prize in Public Health
Timothy J. Judson
J. Bryan Iorgulescu

The G. Thomas Shires II Prize in Surgery
Avinash Maganty

The Alan Van Poznak Award for Excellence in Anesthesiology
Daniel Charles Cook

The Richard N. Kohl Prize for Excellence in Psychiatry
Daniel Shalev
Brigitta Emiko Miyamoto

The David Clayson Prize for Creativity
Michael Wei

The Charles Horn Prize
Ersilia Marie DeFilippis

The Gustave J. Noback Memorial Prize in Anatomy
Alex Robles

The Gustave J. Noback Memorial Fund for Advanced Study and Teaching in the Field of Anatomy
Alejandro Pino

The Weiss Prize for Excellence in Clinical Medicine
Sanjay Michael Salgado

The Medical Society of the State of New York
Melissa Andriani Rusli

The Yvette and Seymour Feil Prize in Medicine
Timothy J. Judson

The Sarah O' Laughlin Foley Prize in Clinical Medicine
Ersilia Marie DeFilippis

The Arthur Palmer Prize for Efficiency in Otorhinolaryngology
Thomas Edward Heineman

The Herman L. Jacobius Prize in Pathology
Tyler Williamson Janovitz

The Jay Lawrence Award for Clinical Proficiency in Infectious Diseases
Scott Navarrett

The Moselle and Milton Pollack Prize in Medical Ethics
Daniel Shalev

The Henry Adelman Memorial Award for Excellence in Geriatric Medicine
Daniel Shalev
Rachel Mara Feldman

The Anthony Seth Werner, M.D., Memorial Prize
Evan Michael Stewart

The Edward Norton Prize in Ophthalmology
Yvonne Wang

The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine's Excellence in Emergency Medicine Award
Mariana Guerrero

The E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr. Prize
Joseph J. Crivelli

The William J. Ledger Prize in Obstetrics & Gynecology
Alex Robles

The Fabrizio Michelassi Medical Student Annual Award
Paul William Furlow

The Dean's Research Award
Ernie Yen Hsun Chen
Aleksey Dvorzhinskiy

The Sondra Lee Shaw Memorial Prize
Daniel Charles Cook

The Harold G. Wolff Research Prize
Yvonne Wang

The Medical Student Executive Council Award
Alec James Swinburne

The Paul Sherlock Prize in Internal Medicine
Alejandro Pino

The John Metcalf Polk Prizes
Ersilia Marie DeFilippis
Thomas Edward Heineman
Ashley Diana Lundgren

The 2015 Janet M. Glasgow-Rubin Memorial Achievement Citations
Lea Mollie Danielle Bornstein
Sarah Jane Coates
Rachel Mara Feldman
Ashley Diana Lundgren

The Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Award
Ersilia Marie DeFilippis

The Hayworth-Gold Award for Excellence in Medical Professionalism
Pouya Jamshidi
Benjamin Stone
Noreen Shaikh

The Compassionate Physician Award
Daniel Shalev

The Good Physician Award
Gregory Campbell McDermott

The Leonard P. Tow Humanism Awards
Daniel Shalev
Dr. Todd Cutler

Teaching Awards

Class of 1952 Resident Physician Prize
Dr. Richard Leiter

The House Staff Teaching Award
Dr. Richard Leiter

The Senior List

• Dr. Susan Ball, associate professor of clinical medicine
• Dr. Ilya Bialik, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics
• Dr. Pamela Charney, professor of clinical medicine and of medicine in clinical obstetrics and gynecology
• Dr. Todd Cutler, professor of clinical medicine and of Medicine in clinical obstetrics and gynecology
• Dr. Byron Demopoulos, associate professor of clinical medicine
• Dr. Ernie Esquivel, assistant professor of medicine
• Dr. Dimitry Francois, assistant professor of psychiatry
• Dr. Janna Gordon- Elliott, assistant professor of psychiatry
• Dr. Erica Jones, associate professor of medicine in clinical radiology
• Dr. Keith LaScalea, associate professor of clinical medicine
• Dr. Estomih Mtui, professor of anatomy in radiology
• Dr. Joseph Murray , associate professor of clinical psychiatry
• Dr. Anthony Ogedegbe, assistant professor of clinical medicine
• Dr. Julie Penzner, assistant professor of psychiatry
• Dr. Joseph Safdieh, associate professor of neurology
• Dr. Debra Taubel, associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology

First Year Teaching Award
Dr. Lawrence Palmer
Dr. Domenick Falcone

Second Year Teaching Award
Dr. Brian Bosworth

Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award of Alpha Omega Alpha
Dr. Timothy Dutta

The Charles L. Bardes, M.D. Teaching Prize
Dr. Domenick Falcone

The Richard A. Herrmann, M.D. Teaching Award
Dr. David Berlin

The Elliot Hochstein Teaching Award
Dr. Todd Cutler

Weill Cornell Medical College Graduate School of Medical Sciences

2015 Distinguished Alumnus
Dr. Avery August

2015 Distinguished Student Commencement Award
Igor Dikiy

Tri-Institutional Breakout Prize
Dilek Colak, Ph. D.

Costas Lyssiotis, Ph. D.

2015 Vincent du Vigneaud Research Symposium

2015 Vincent du Vigneaud Student Talk Award

• First Place
  Christina Bonvicino, "Isoflurane Depresses Dopamine Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis." (Professor Hugh C. Hemmings, Jr.)
• Second Place
  Jennifer Knauss, "Characterization of Long Noncoding RNA Sox2ot During Cortical Development." (Professors Mary Donohoe and Tao Sun)
Pui-Mun Wong,

"Regulation of Autophagy by Coordinated Action of mTORC1 and Protein Phosphatase 2A."

(Professor Xuejun Jiang)

2015 Vincent du Vigneaud First-Year Poster Presenter Award

• First Place
  Michael Crowley, "Exploring Cross-talk in the Arteriole Hematopoietic Stem Cell Niche through RNA- sequencing." (Professors Olivier Elemento and Jason Butler)
• Second Place
  Lauren Forbes, "Nanoparticle Properties and their Effect on Stability and Distribution." (Professor Daniel Heller)

2015 Vincent du Vigneaud Second-Year and Above Poster Award

• First Place
  Abigail Horstmann, "ALDH1A2 (RALDH2) in Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma." (Professor Lorraine Gudas)
• Second Place
  José Gabriel Barcia Durán, "S1P1 is Required for the Reprogramming of Endothelial Cells to a Hemogenic State." Nat Commun. 2015 Mar 3;6:6395. (PI: B.J. Casey, PhD)

2015 Julian R. Rachele Prize

• Andrew Tokay Drysdale, "FAAH genetic variation enhances fronto-amygdala function in mouse and human." (Professor Lorraine Gudas)
• Peng Kate Gao, "Deterministic Progenitor Behavior and Unitary Production of Neurons in the Neocortex." Cell. 2014 Nov 6;159(4): 775-88. (PI: Songhai Shi, PhD)

2015 Julian R. Rachele Prize Honorable Mention

• Adam M. Levinson, "Total Synthesis of Asperverin via an Iodine(III)-Mediated Oxidative Cyclization." Org. Lett. 2014 Sep 19;16(18):4904-7. (PI: Samuel Danishefsky, PhD)

Physician Assistant Student and Faculty Awards

• Academic Excellence Award Pre-Clinical
  Theresa F. Lardieri
• Academic Excellence Award Clinical
  Tristyn Richendifer
• Peer Award
  Tristyn Richendifer
• Research Excellence Award
  Rita Loureiro
• Pre-Clinical Instructor Award
  Gerald T. Simons, CRT, PA-C, MPAS
• Clinical Instructor Award
  Ramnath D. Kapoor, MD

Jessica M. Bibliowicz, Successful Business Executive, Named New Chair of the Board

NEW YORK (December 9, 2014) — After 20 years of bold and visionary leadership that has transformed Weill Cornell Medical College into a global healthcare enterprise, Sanford I. Weill will retire as chair of the Weill Cornell Board of Overseers on Jan. 1. Jessica M. Bibliowicz, a successful entrepreneur in the financial services business for nearly three decades, who has served on the Board of Overseers for the past decade, will succeed Mr. Weill, the new chair emeritus.

Jessica M. Bibliowicz and Sanford I. Weill. All photos: John Abbott

The transition comes as the 116-year-old medical college embarks on a new chapter that builds upon the landmark successes Mr. Weill has realized in his two decades as chair. His enduring dedication to the institution that bears his name has resulted in an unprecedented expansion that is exemplified in Weill Cornell's excellence in medical education, biomedical research and clinical care. In collaboration with medical college leadership, Ms. Bibliowicz will help lead Weill Cornell as it continues to break new ground in New York and abroad by expanding its clinical enterprise and forging public-private partnerships that accelerate groundbreaking scientific discoveries for patients. Working closely with Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, Ms. Bibliowicz will help guide its transformation of medical education and drive dialogue on innovative healthcare delivery models that optimize the value and quality of patient care.

"When I joined the Board of Overseers more than 30 years ago, I was driven to try and make a difference in the world," Mr. Weill said. "It's truly humbling to see just how much of an impact Weill Cornell has had around the globe, and I believe we are poised to thrive far into the future. Weill Cornell Medical College is more to me than just an esteemed medical school — the people here are my extended family. I could think of no one better than Jessica to shepherd Weill Cornell into the next stage of its evolution."

"It's an honor and privilege to be able to support Weill Cornell Medical College's tremendous efforts to educate, innovate and heal," Ms. Bibliowicz said. "As a Cornell University alum, it's especially meaningful to me to try and help take this distinguished institution to the next level of excellence in New York and beyond. Our ever-changing healthcare landscape has sparked exciting opportunities to help shape national conversation, and I'm eager to work with Dr. Glimcher and the Board of Overseers as we strive to improve and prolong human health."

Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, Sanford I. Weill and Jessica M. Bibliowicz

In the three decades he has served on the Board of Overseers and in the two decades he has been chair, Mr. Weill has been much more than a governing force. His benevolence and unwavering resolve to ensure a healthier future has touched every program area at Weill Cornell, establishing the medical school as an innovator in basic, clinical and translational research, and forging a new paradigm for global engagement and medical education.

Under Mr. Weill's leadership, the medical college has built bridges nationally and abroad. Weill Cornell forged an affiliation with Houston Methodist in Texas and, with Cornell University, established a medical school in Doha, Qatar. Since its inception in 2002, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, which offers a Cornell University medical degree, has created 181 new doctors who have continued their graduate medical training in residencies and clinical research at outstanding institutions in the United States and Qatar. The Weill Cornell Qatar location has also established a world-class biomedical team and contributed to Qatar's goal of becoming a knowledge-based economy. In addition, Weill Cornell in 2007 established a formal affiliation with Bugando Medical Centre and the Weill Bugando University College of Health Sciences in Mwanza, Tanzania, named in recognition of the Weills' support. Weill Bugando has graduated an average of 100 new doctors every year for the past seven years in Mwanza, expanding Tanzania's core of providers who are empowered to deliver the best patient care, despite a resource-limited setting. This unique educational partnership has spurred new possibilities for cultural exchange, providing medical students at Weill Cornell in New York and residents at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital with the opportunity to spend a month or two in Mwanza practicing medicine the way it used to be, with limited modern technology. They return to New York with a greater sense of gratification that reaffirms their commitment to global health and a career in academic medicine.

In recognition that building a healthier future also requires training an exceptional cadre of new doctors and scientists, Mr. Weill and his wife Joan in 1992 established the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Education Center, the heart of the medical college's education program, with their first gifts to Weill Cornell. The Weill Education Center comprises the Weill Auditorium and 20 classrooms and teaching laboratories outfitted with modern audio-visual, networking and wireless technology to provide the next generation of medical professionals with the best environment for learning.

Sanford I. Weill

In 2007, Weill Cornell opened the Weill Greenberg Center in New York City, the medical college's flagship and award-winning ambulatory care center, and in January opened the adjacent Belfer Research Building, a transformative 18-story, state-of-the-art facility that ensures that the medical college remains at the forefront of scientific discovery. Their proximity to each other ensures that breakthroughs made in the laboratory can be rapidly applied to patient care as improved treatments and therapies. Weill Cornell has successfully recruited some of the world's leading physicians and scientists to conduct this translational research. Last year, the Weills established the Weill Center for Metabolic Health, which strives to understand the basic biology and genetics of diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome, and translate discoveries into next-generation therapeutic approaches. Weill Cornell is conducting a national search for a renowned scientist to lead these efforts.

A self-made man who exemplifies the philosophy of leading by example, Mr. Weill, Mrs. Weill and the Weill Family Foundation have generously given more than $550 million in gifts to support Weill Cornell Medical College. They include a groundbreaking $100 million gift in 1998 — at the time the largest in Cornell University's history — a second $100 million gift in 2002, a $250 million gift in 2007 and another $100 million gift in 2013 to establish the Weill Center for Metabolic Health, as well as the Joan and Sanford I. Weill and the Weill Family Foundation Global Health Research Laboratories. In honor and appreciation of their unparalleled dedication and enduring commitment, the institution in 1998 was renamed Weill Cornell Medical College. With an additional gift of $50 million to Cornell University, the Weills' total giving tops $600 million.

The Weills' altruism inspired and galvanized Weill Cornell's numerous, loyal donors to support the medical college. In Mr. Weill's 20 years as chair, the medical college has raised $3 billion. Earlier this year, Weill Cornell celebrated the Weills' legacy by naming its department of medicine the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine.

"What Sandy has done for Weill Cornell, New York and the world is just breathtaking — it's a labor of love that will touch the lives of generations," Dr. Glimcher said. "His unwavering leadership, profound magnanimity and steadfast resolve to enhance medical education, advance discoveries and enrich clinical care is his lasting legacy. Jessica is an outstanding choice to assume Sandy's mantle and steer Weill Cornell into the future. I couldn't be more thrilled for what's to come."

"Sandy is a businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, visionary leader, chairman emeritus of Citigroup, Cornell alumnus and my good friend," said Cornell University President David Skorton. "As chair of the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College, he has nurtured the college's growth, guided its progress and expanded its capacity for rigorous medical education, path-breaking research and superb clinical care — to the enormous benefit of our students, faculty, researchers and patients. I am delighted that Jessica Bibliowicz, who has provided exemplary leadership to the university and the medical college, has agreed to take on this new role as chair of the Board of Overseers."

"It is impossible to overstate the impact that Sandy has had on Weill Cornell Medical College, and on the whole of Cornell University, during his time as chair of the Board of Overseers," said Robert Harrison, chair of the Cornell University Board of Trustees. "He is someone who can not only articulate a strong and inspirational vision, but also bring people together to do what it takes to make the vision a reality. Although I will miss working with Sandy, I am very much looking forward to working with Jessica in her new role. She has been a very effective trustee and overseer for many years and clearly has the talent and energy to lead the Board of Overseers and the medical school to new heights."

About Jessica M. Bibliowicz

A Cornell University graduate in 1981 and after working 18 years in financial services, Ms. Bibliowicz became CEO of National Financial Partners in 1999, a financial services firm that specializes in benefits and wealth management. The company went public in 2003 and was sold to Madison Dearborn in 2013. Ms. Bibliowicz joined the Weill Cornell Board of Overseers in 2004. She is also a member of the Cornell University Board of Trustees and a member of the Cornell NYC Tech Campus Task Force. Currently, Ms. Bibliowicz is a senior advisor at Bridge Growth Partners and serves on the board of directors of Sotheby's(NYSE: BID); Realogy (NYSE: RLGY); and the Asia Pacific Fund (NYSE: APB). She is a board director/trustee of Prudential Insurance Funds and is also on the board of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

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 Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.

Findings Add to Public Health Debate About Pharmacy Compounding

NEW YORK (September 18, 2014) — Custom-made versions of a widely prescribed, low-cost drug used to prevent a leading cause of blindness in the elderly vary widely in their dosages, Weill Cornell Medical College scientists found in analyses of the eye injections. Investigators saw no evidence of impurities or contamination but found that many of the samples, which were prepared by pharmacists through a process called compounding, contained less medication than doses of the drug obtained directly from the manufacturer. The research, published today in JAMA Ophthalmology, is likely to increase scrutiny of compounding pharmacies, which tailor-mix drugs for individual patients, and to question whether eye-care specialists should continue to prescribe the cancer drug Avastin for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

"Our evaluation showed significant differences in doses of compounded Avastin, as well as lower drug levels overall compared to Avastin that came from the manufacturer. This is troubling because the prescribed dosing regimen potentially won't produce the desired therapeutic response, or may put a patient's health at risk,” said lead author Dr. Szilárd Kiss, director of clinical research and an associate professor of ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical College. "Although there were no signs of contamination, these findings raise legitimate concerns about the quality practices of compounding pharmacies."

Pharmacy compounding is the practice of creating customized, prescription medications to meet individual patients' needs. At the request of a physician or other healthcare provider who is authorized to write prescriptions, a licensed pharmacist alters ingredients in drugs, such as removing allergy-causing dyes or preservatives or preparing an alternative dosage form to make it easier for patients to take their medications. An estimated 3,000 compounding pharmacies fill more than 30 million prescriptions a year in the United States.

Many eye doctors use Avastin, which is only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat cancer, as an off-label treatment for AMD, retinal vein occlusion (RVO), diabetic macular edema (DME) and other, similar eye conditions. Compounding pharmacists divide the drug, which for cancer patients is typically injected into a vein, into multiple smaller doses that are then injected into the eye in a non-FDA approved, off-label fashion. Doctors and patients have no other way of obtaining Avastin for off-label use to treat these eye diseases other than through compounding pharmacies.

AMD affects about 3 million Americans, and more than 150,000 people — mostly age 65 or older — are diagnosed with the disease each year. AMD causes blood vessels to grow and spread in the back of the eye. Over time, the blood vessels may leak or bleed, causing blurred or distorted vision. Patients can lose some or all of their vision if the disease is left untreated.

When injected into the eye, Avastin, also known by its chemical name, bevacizumab, stops blood vessels from leaking and growing. Two similar medicines, Lucentis (ranibizumab) and Eylea (aflibercept), are FDA-approved for this serious, sight-threatening "wet" form of AMD but cost about 40 times more per dose than Avastin. Many doctors prescribe Avastin for AMD, RVO and DME because of the significant, potential cost savings to patients and insurers. But in recent years, several compounding pharmacies have sold tainted drugs, including Avastin, that have blinded and sickened hundreds of patients.

In the study, researchers obtained three Avastin samples prepared in syringes from 11 compounding pharmacies from around the United States. Two samples from each pharmacy were tested for protein concentration (to measure the average amount of drug in the syringe), while the remaining 11 samples were tested for contaminants. The researchers compared individual doses of compounded Avastin to samples obtained directly from the drug manufacturer, Genentech — formulations identical to those compounding pharmacies buy from the company to make eye injections. They found 17 samples with significantly less drug than the respective Genentech doses (and less than what was stated on the compounding pharmacy label), as well as one syringe that was completely empty, containing absolutely no medication at all.

The researchers also compared protein concentrations of the two samples from each pharmacy. They observed significantly different drug levels between the samples in three of 10 facilities. None of the samples tested positive for bacteria or other impurities.

Dr. Donald D'Amico

"The study sharpens our understanding of the complexities of selecting the appropriate treatment for patients suffering from AMD or other diseases that affect blood vessels in the eye. It adds a new and critical element to the national debate regarding the efficacy, costs, and safety of off-label Avastin compared to similar, on-label medications — namely, a careful analysis of what is actually in the Avastin syringe obtained from a compounding pharmacy," said co-author Dr. Donald D'Amico, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and the John Milton McLean Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill Cornell, and ophthalmologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

"Although, reassuringly, all of the syringes in our study were contaminant-free, the wide variations in the Avastin doses in the various samples suggest that, in clinical practice, some patients who are ‘non-responders' may simply have been under-dosed, and other patients may have received higher doses than recommended. Clearly, greater precision is needed to provide the best care for our patients," added Dr. D'Amico, who has served as a consultant for Genentech.

Dr. Kiss, who also consults for Genentech, the company that makes both Avastin and Lucentis, and for Regeneron, which makes Eylea, is encouraged that the federal government is actively addressing deficiencies in the pharmacy-compounding industry through tighter controls and regulations, such as new manufacturing rules, routine inspections of facilities, and self-reporting of adverse side effects. Compounders are licensed and regulated by their respective state boards of pharmacy, but a law passed in 2013 — the Drug Quality and Security Act — enforces new quality-control guidelines and increased federal supervision to guard against unsafe and sometimes illegal compounding practices. To help reduce treatment costs, scientists also have proposed further research exploring whether fewer injections of the more expensive AMD drugs work as well as Avastin.

"I'm hopeful the legislation will maintain patient access to needed compounded drugs while ensuring the predictability and reliability of these medications. This should raise the level of confidence among pharmacies, providers, and their patients," he said.

Working with Dr. Kiss and Dr. D'Amico on the study were Weill Cornell Medical College researchers Dr. Michael Klufas, Dr. Stephen Kaminsky, Dr. Ronald Crystal, Nicolas Yannuzzi, Lucy Quach, and Lauren Beatty. The study was funded in part by Research to Prevent Blindness.

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 Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.

The 2.5-foot brain is the centerpiece of a new exhibit at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute. The exhibit, "Your Brain," provides visitors with the opportunity to explore the brain in themed sections. Dr. Voss' 3-D structure doubles as a work of art and a portrayal of how scientists visualize the pathways that carry out different brain functions.

For Dr. Voss, there was no better time to collaborate with the science center to bring his work to the public. Advanced technology has allowed neuroscientists — and now, the public — to see the brain in ways they couldn't before.

"With the scientific tools that we have now, human neuroscience will have unforeseeable benefits for medicine and humanity in general," said Dr. Voss, the Nancy M. and Samuel C. Fleming Research Scholar in Intercampus Collaborations and associate professor of physics in radiology.

"I think this is what the Franklin Institute wants to convey with their exhibition and I hope that this piece will do its part to make young people interested in the brain as an object of scientific inquiry."

The piece portrays the white matter of the brain, material composed of axons, the long tails of neurons, which facilitate communication throughout the brain. (Its gray matter, which the replica doesn't show, is made up of cell bodies that carry out the body's functions by transmitting electrical and chemical signals.)

Dr. Voss published a similar 3-D image of a patient's white matter in a 2009 review article that later landed in the book "Portraits of the Mind: Visualizing the Brain from Antiquity to the 21st Century." Back in Philadelphia, developers of "Your Brain" stumbled across the image in the book and immediately wanted to bring it to life in the exhibit, which opened last month.

But accomplishing that goal was a complex process. Using an MRI machine at the Citigroup Biomedical Imaging Center, a core facility of the college, Dr. Voss ran a special program called a diffusion tensor MRI scan to capture thousands of images of a consenting person's brain. An algorithm used the images to determine the direction that water travels inside the brain, a property called a diffusion tensor. Another algorithm grouped matching diffusion tensors together to yield a map of the axon bundles that compose the brain's white matter.

The white matter map that emerged created a large 3-D image in which the axon bundles are represented by hundreds of tubes, posing challenges throughout the printing process. After being turned away by 3-D printing companies for nearly a year, the exhibit's project manager, Donna Claiborne, found Direct Dimensions, a 3-D printing company that signed on to the project. Still, in order to make it printable, Dr. Voss had to find a way to reduce the image to about one-fifth of its original size without losing too much of its detail. After he pared it down, Direct Dimensions printed the structure in eight pieces, assembled it, and sent it to the Franklin Institute.

Despite the complicated production process, the piece was well worth the wait, helping to draw more than 47,000 patrons to the exhibit since its debut, Claiborne said.

"It's absolutely beautiful, and it's amazing how much attention it's gotten from all of the visitors," she said. "It's been a great success."

Dr. Andrew H. Talal. Image credit: Douglas Levere, University at Buffalo

As new treatments for hepatitis C virus (HCV) are approved, biomedical scientists are exploring their mechanisms and what they reveal about the virus. A publication in Hepatology is the first to report real-time tracking of viral decay in the liver and blood in 15 patients with HCV.

The research was led by Dr. Andrew H. Talal, adjunct associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University at Buffalo. The study, published in May, is the first to trace in real time how the drug telaprevir inhibits viral replication in the liver and how it clears HCV from infected cells and plasma of infected patients.

The study was sponsored by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which makes telaprevir, an HCV protease inhibitor.

"Our findings begin to define for how long patients may need to be treated in order to achieve viral eradication," Dr. Talal said.

"There has been no precise definition of the duration of treatment based upon serial measurements of the virus in the liver," he said. "This is the first time that serial measurements in the liver have been performed during antiviral therapy."

In the study, conducted at Weill Cornell, 15 patients with chronic HCV infection were treated with telaprevir-based triple therapy (consisting of telaprevir/pegylated interferon alfa/ribavirin), an HCV treatment regimen that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2011.

In previous studies, a more invasive procedure — core needle biopsy — was used to sample the liver in HCV infection. In the new study, fine needle aspiration was used. The method is better tolerated by patients and allows for repeated sampling at more time points than core needle biopsy.

"Fine needle aspiration enables us to sample the liver repeatedly during the course of treatment, to better understand what’s happening with the virus, how these drugs work and how to tailor therapy to the patient," Dr. Talal said.

Fine needle aspiration of the liver was performed before treatment on all 15 patients and at these intervals following treatment: 10 hours, on days four and 15 and at week eight. Researchers measured how the virus had changed, its resistance to the treatment, drug concentrations, and gene expression.

Of particular interest were the study’s findings regarding the rate of decay for viral ribonucleic acid (RNA), an indicator of how quickly the virus is being eradicated.

"We found that HCV RNA decay in the liver lagged behind that in the peripheral blood, which has implications for how long the virus may persist in the body and the possible duration of treatment needed," Dr. Talal said.

They also found higher levels of the drug in blood than in the liver.

"These findings can affect the duration of therapy," Dr. Talal said, adding that they can also help to identify when drug-resistant variants of the virus emerge in blood and in the liver.

The findings also may have relevance to the development of other methods of treating HCV, such as vaccines that could be used to control the infection, he added.

Brain researchers had assumed that coming out of anesthesia after surgery would be a smooth and gradual upward ride into consciousness. But a research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College has found that the brain powers up in a herky-jerky manner, sometimes moving closer towards awakening and then taking a step back.

The findings, reported June 9 in PNAS, offer a welcome step forward in solving two big puzzles that have befuddled clinicians: How can anesthesiologists ensure their surgery patients are truly unconscious before they operate, and how can neurologists characterize the level of consciousness in a brain-injured, unresponsive patient?

The brain passes progressively and abruptly through patterns of activity as it awakens from unconsciousness. Each oval represents a discrete activity state, and the arrows show transitions among them. Image: Alex Proekt

If neurologists knew such patients were close to consciousness, but stuck at a certain level, they might be able to devise methods to force the brain to move stepwise into consciousness, says the study's senior investigator, Dr. Alex Proekt, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

"The hope is that results from this study can help us understand the signatures of electrical activity in the brain that represent different stages through which the brain must pass through in order to recover consciousness," Dr. Proekt says.

"This is progress, because without detailed understanding of how we recover consciousness, it is not possible to determine whether a brain-injured patient may be moving towards recovery or if an anesthetized patient is on the verge of awakening during surgery."

In the study, the researchers anesthetized rats and then gradually lowered the dose of the drug isoflurane while recording electrical activity in the brain's anterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortices and the intralaminar thalamus, areas that are involved in brain arousal and anesthesia. They found that recovery was characterized by abrupt changes in neuronal activity.

"Brain waves at different frequencies suddenly appeared and disappeared. Furthermore, some of these patterns of activity formed "way stations," or hubs that the brain must pass through in order to proceed further towards awakening," Dr. Proekt says.

He likened the activation of brain consciousness to a "reboot" of a computer.

"When a computer is shut down — perhaps by mistake, such as by a power outage — it goes through a sequence of events to return to where it was before the blackout," Dr. Proekt says. "The computer takes an orderly progression by activating programs, one at a time.

"We are proposing that because there are so many states a brain can take, it has to have a guide for reactivation, such as an ordered progression like a computer-boot sequence. The brain passes progressively and abruptly through discrete states, and while transitions between some of these activity states are spontaneous, transitions between others are not," he says.

While the dive into unconsciousness and the rise to consciousness "is complicated, we are now beginning to see a structure that helps us decode the process, which we hope will be a benefit for our patients," Dr. Proekt says.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Rockefeller University contributed to the study.

Graduating from Weill Cornell Medical College is more than a dream come true for Peter Movilla — it's a family accomplishment. The 26-year-old from New Jersey is not only the first in his family to earn a college degree, but now he also has an M.D. at the end of his name.

"This is something I've dreamt of since sophomore year of college," Dr. Movilla said after picking up his diploma on May 29. "There were a lot of hurdles, but with the support of my family, a lot of mentors and people I look up to, it became a dream and a realization today. And I just want to say thank you to all of them — especially my mother, who had me when she was 14 years old and was my biggest supporter."

Dr. Movilla joined nearly 300 of his classmates at Carnegie Hall to celebrate a milestone in their lives: graduating from the medical college and Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Bouquets of red and white flowers lined the Perelman Stage as Cornell University President David Skorton joined with Deans Laurie H. Glimcher, Gary Koretzky and Javaid Sheikh in conferring degrees of doctor of medicine, master of science and doctor of philosophy.

"With change occurring at an astronomical rate, I challenge you to be leaders in your field," said Dr. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell. "Become a person who innovates and drives medicine or biomedical science forward and shapes it for the better. It's no exaggeration to say that the health of generations to

Weill Cornell Music and Medicine students perform original music, "Iuro Per Quod," at commencement

come lies in your hands."

The commencement exercises recognized the triumphs of 291 students: 70 with Ph.D.s, 43 physician assistants with master of science in health sciences, 36 with master of science degrees and 142 medical doctors —34 of whom are from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. With their studies behind them, they will now begin their residencies, fellowships and other phases of their careers.

"There has never been a time like this before in the history of biomedical investigation, as the gulf between fundamental discovery and how that discovery can be applied to improve the care of patients has never been smaller," said Dr. Koretzky, dean of Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. "You have made and you will continue to make observations, in the laboratory, at the bedside and using assembled patient data, that will inform our physician assistant and medical school graduates as they care for their patients."

But just as important as making scientific breakthroughs, whether it be at the lab bench or at the patient's bedside, it is vital for these new physicians and scientists to be able to communicate the value of their work to the public, Dr. Skorton said. That could make a difference in advancing the biomedical sciences in an era of budget austerity.

"I know you can make a difference — in the lives of your patients, in increasing the store of biomedical knowledge and in educating the public in ways that can change the world," he said. "We're counting on you to change it."

Making real impact on the world requires a sense of humility and honesty, said student commencement speaker Dr. Sandeep Kishore. He challenged his fellow graduates to work together, support each other and, above all, be vulnerable.

Graduate school commencement speaker Dr. Victoria Schulman stands with her classmates as they are honored during the ceremony

Making a difference also requires an exceptional curiosity, perseverance and not fearing the prospect of failing, said Dr. Victoria Schulman, the graduate school's commencement speaker.

"I encourage everyone in this room to be curious enough and brave enough to continue pursuing the questions that drive your work, because it doesn't stop here," she said. "Our goal as students was to earn an advanced degree. Our goal as graduating students is to exceed what's already been done, to expand on what's already known to turn that degree into a career — a career that yields amazing results."

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar graduate Dr. Danial Mir is excited about what's in store for him — a surgical residency at Johns Hopkins, followed by a residency in radiology at Emory University. But in the first few moments after receiving his medical degree, all he could think about is what it took to get to this point.

"I finally have what I've been working towards for so long," he said. "It was worth it."

On the eve of their graduation, students from Weill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences were recognized for their outstanding achievements.

More than 100 medical and graduate students received special awards, prizes, certificates and the Weill Cornell seal during two ceremonies on May 28 in Uris Auditorium. The awards acknowledge the students' exceptional academic achievement, scholarship, research, teaching and service. The ceremony also honored other students, alumni, faculty and staff.

The following is a complete list of all of the award winners:

Weill Cornell Medical College

Student Awards

The Coryell Prize in Surgery
Justin Taylor Schwarz

The Coryell Prize in Medicine
Kirti Magudia

The Alfred Moritz Michaelis Prize in Medicine
Colin A. Raelson

The Oskar Diethelm Prize for Excellence in Psychiatry
Megan Christine Riddle
Alexandra Tatum

The Joan Severino Parisi Prize in Internal Medicine
Eleanor Hope Emery

The David and Gladys Drusin Memorial Prize
Vinay L. Patel

The T. Campbell Thompson Prize for Excellence in Orthopedic Surgery
Nicholas McLaury Fort

The Mitchell Spivak Memorial Prize in Pediatrics
Alexandra Melissa Satty

The James A. Moore Scholarship
Jenna Devare

The Gustav Seeligmann Prize for Efficiency in Obstetrics
Peter R. Movilla

The Henry C. and Anne Hayworth First Honor Prize
Hannah Dee

The Sidney and Viola Borkon Memorial Prize
Emma Vartanian

The George S. Meister Prize in Pediatrics
Theresa X. Zhou

The Elise Strang L'Esperance Prize in Public Health
Jessica Beth Rubin

The George G. Reader Prize in Public Health
Eleanor Hope Emery
Miheer Sane

The G. Thomas Shires II Prize in Surgery
Justin Lee Perez

The Alan Van Poznak Award for Excellence in Anesthesiology
Angela Xiaowei Li

The Richard N. Kohl Prize for Excellence in Psychiatry
Kyle Ian Strimbu

The David Clayson Prize for Creativity
Jana Zielonka

The Charles Horn Prize
Eleanor Hope Emery

The Gustave J. Noback Memorial Prize in Anatomy
Jenna Devare

The Gustave J. Noback Memorial Fund for Advanced Study and Teaching in the Field of Anatomy
Krzysztof Glomski

The Weiss Prize for Excellence in Clinical Medicine
Anne Spanier Linker

The Medical Society of the State of New York
Suchit Hitesh Patel

The Yvette and Seymour Feil Prize in Medicine
Lindsey Bornstein Gottlieb

The Sarah O'Laughlin Foley Prize in Clinical Medicine
Ian Holmes

The Arthur Palmer Prize for Efficiency in Otorhinolaryngology
Tiffany Peng

The Herman L. Jacobius Prize in Pathology
Matthew Walker Rosenbaum

The Jay Lawrence Award for Clinical Proficiency in Infectious Diseases
Jonathan P. Huggins

The Ralph I. Poucher Prize for Proficiency in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Nicole Denise Yoder

The Faith Stewart-Gordon Prize for Excellence in Rehabilitation Medicine
Scott Barbuto

The Moselle and Milton Pollack Prize in Medical Ethics
Daniel Damonn Hegg

The Henry Adelman Memorial Award for Excellence in Geriatric Medicine
Kaylan Chrsitianer
Diana Carolina Mosquera

The Anthony Seth Werner, M.D., Memorial Prize
Kristi Nori Shigyo

The Edward Norton Prize in Ophthalmology
Nicolas Alessandro Yannuzzi

The George Ladas Prize for Efficiency in Gynecology
Misha Pangasa

The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine's Excellence in Emergency Medicine Award
Daniel Damonn Hegg

The Franklyn Ellenbogen Prize in Hematology-Oncology
Kirti Magudia

The E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr. Prize
Campbell Francis Bryson

The American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology
Leanne D. Stunkel

The William J. Ledger Prize in Obstetrics & Gynecology
Stephanie Chu

The Fabrizio Michelassi Medical Student Annual Award
Edmund B. Chen

The Frederick M. Brown, M.D. Award for Allergy and Immunology
Robert M. Samstein

The Harry L. Bush, Jr., M.D. Award for Excellence in Vascular Biology
Krzysztof Glomski

The Dean William Mecklenburg Polk Prize for Research
Kristi Nori Shigyo

The Dean's Research Award
Kristi Nori Shigyo
Shawn Michael Sarkaria

The Alan von Kreuter Cancer Research Prize
Shawn Michael Sarkaria

The Medical Student Executive Council Award
Colleen Wichser Meehan

The Paul Sherlock Prize in Internal Medicine
Kaylan Chrsitianer

The John Metcalf Polk Prizes
Eleanor Hope Emery
Colleen Wichser Meehan
Jessica Beth Rubin

The 2014 Janet M. Glasgow-Rubin Memorial Achievement Citations
Eleanor Hope Emery
Melissa Anita Cabinian Kinnebrew
Jessica Beth Rubin

The Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Award
Colleen Wichser Meehan

The Hayworth-Gold Award for Excellence in Medical Professionalism
Ersilia M. DeFilippis
Daniel Shalev

The Compassionate Physician Award
Sandeep Pavan Tunuguntla Kishore

The Good Physician Award
SaifEldeen Alzoobaee

The Leonard P. Tow Humanism Awards
Jessica Beth Rubin
Dr. Erica Jones

Teaching Awards

Class of 1952 Resident Physician Prize
Dr. Julia Geynisman

The House Staff Teaching Award
Dr. Julia Geynisman

The Senior List

• Dr. Charles L. Bardes, Professor of Clinical Medicine
• Dr. David Berlin, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
• Dr. Ilya Bialik, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
• Dr. Ernie Esquivel, Assistant Professor of Medicine
• Dr. Thanakorn Jirasevinda, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
• Dr. Richard Lin, Assistant Professor of Medicine
• Dr. Avelin Malyango, Assistant Professor of Anatomy in Cell and Developmental Biology
• Dr. Peter Marzuk, Professor of Psychiatry
• Dr. B. Robert Meyer, Professor of Clinical Medicine
• Dr. Estomih Mtui, Professor of Anatomy in Cell and Developmental Biology 
• Dr. Joseph Murray, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
• Dr. Anthony Ogedegbe, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
• Dr. Mark Pecker, Professor of Clinical Medicine; Professor of Clinical Medicine in Physiology and Biophysics
• Dr. Robyn Rosenblum, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
• Dr. Joseph Safdieh, Associate Professor of Neurology
• Dr. Debra Taubel, Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology

The First Year Teaching Award
Dr. Santosh Sangari

The Second Year Teaching Award
Dr. Brian Bosworth

Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award of Alpha Omega Alpha
Dr. Shari Midoneck

The Charles L. Bardes, M.D. Teaching Prize
Dr. Keith LaScalea

The Richard A. Herrmann, M.D. Teaching Award
Dr. Anthony Ogedegbe

The Elliot Hochstein Teaching Award
Dr. Ernie Esquivel

Siegel Family Award for Outstanding Medical Research
  Dr. Shahin Rafii

Weill Cornell Medical College Graduate School of Medical Sciences

2014 Distinguished Alumna
Dr. M. Elizabeth Ross

2014 Distinguished Student Commencement Award
Victoria Schulman

2014 Vincent du Vigneaud Research Symposium

2014 Vincent du Vigneaud Awards of Excellence

• Oral Presentation
  Christina Maksymiuk, "Characterization of 2-hydroxy-3-oxoadipate synthase (HOAS) in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Metabolism." (Professor Carl F. Nathan)
• Poster Presentation
  Wei Shao, "Functional Dissection of Centriolar and Its Derived Structures in the Developing Neocortex." (Professor Song-Hai Shi)

2014 Vincent du Vigneaud First-Year Award
Maria Bustillo, "Spatial Organization of Gene Expression is Maintained During Cell Intercalation in the Expanding Drosophila Melanogaster Embryo." (Professor Jennifer A. Zallen)

2014 Vincent du Vigneaud Second-Year Award

• Charles Ferranti, "Ionizing Radiation-Induced "Nanopores" Signal Acid Sphingomyelinase Activation and Cell Surface Translocation." (Professor Richard Kolesnick)
• Bonnie Quach, "Mechanism of Preventing Doxorubicin-Induced Mitochondrial Toxicity with Cardiolipin-Targeted Peptide, SS-31." (Professor Hazel Szeto)

2014 Julian R. Rachele Prize

• Joseph Justin Mulvey, "Self-assembly of carbon nanotubes and antibodies on tumours for targeted amplified delivery." Nature Nanotechnology 8, 763–771 (2013) (PI: David Scheinberg, M.D.-Ph.D.)
• Nurunisa Akyuz, "Transport dynamics in a glutamate transporter homologue." Nature 502, 114-118 (2013) (PI: Olga Boudker, Ph.D.)

Physician Assistant Student and Faculty Awards

Student

• Pre-Clinical & Clinical
  Rachel Margaret Shapiro

Faculty

• Pre-Clinical
  Dwayne Williams, PA-C
• Clinical
  Dino Berutti, PA-C

Peer Award
Kelly Brooke Tweed
Katie M. Finnigan

Research
Amanda Lorraine Tulley

Pi Alpha Inductees

• Faculty
  Mayra Ramirez, MA, PA-C
  Katherine A. Hajjar, MD
• Alumni
  Roy S. Berryhill, Jr. MS, PA-C
  Kevin Michael Chandon, MS, PA-C
• Students
  Katie M. Finnigan
  Rachel Margaret Shapiro
  Amanda Lorraine Tulley
  Kelly Brooke Tweed