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Weill Cornell Medical College Graduat School 2024 convocation

2024 Convocation Recognizes Exceptional Graduate Students

Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences highlighted students in the Class of 2024 for their academic achievements during its convocation ceremony on May 15.

The ceremony honored students who are graduating with their master’s degrees, as well as those who earned special awards and prizes for their accomplishments in research, scholarship and service.

In addition to celebrating students, the ceremony also honored graduate school faculty. Dr. Cynthia Leifer (Ph.D. '99),...

Faculty Members Honored with Distinguished Awards

LeWeill Cornell Medicine faculty members were honored with awards for their exemplary achievements in medical research, education and care May 15-16 during the institution’s commencement activities.

Dr. Thanakorn “T.J.” Jirasevijinda, professor of pediatrics, was awarded the Jeanne and Herbert Siegel Award for Excellence in Medical Education. This prize recognizes a faculty member for exemplary contributions to medical education.

Dr. Ari Melnick, the Gebroe Family Professorship...

illustration of chromatin in the nucleus

GoT-ChA: A New Tool for Detailing How Gene Mutations Affect Cells

A team co-led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and the New York Genome Center has developed an advanced method for revealing how gene mutations disrupt the normal packaging of DNA. These structural changes, which alter patterns of gene activity in a cell, are known as epigenetic changes and can lead to malignancy.

The new method, described in a paper published on May 8 in Nature, offers biologists a powerful tool that can be applied in many fields of investigation, from basic...

Pregnancy Cytokine Levels Impact Fetal Brain Development and Offspring Behavior

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered in a preclinical model that cytokines, proteins that control immune response, circulating in maternal blood during pregnancy may mitigate an offspring's risk for psychiatric conditions. The findings are surprising because circulating maternal cytokines are at such low levels that they were not implicated in fetal brain development and offspring behavior before.

The study published online in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity on Feb. 29,...

immunofluorescent staining of the coronary lesion

Solving the Riddle of the Sphingolipids in Coronary Artery Disease

Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have uncovered a way to unleash in blood vessels the protective effects of a type of fat-related molecule known as a sphingolipid, suggesting a promising new strategy for the treatment of coronary artery disease.

In the study, published March 8 in Circulation Research, the researchers showed that boosting levels of a sphingolipid called S1P in artery-lining endothelial cells slows the development and progression of coronary artery disease in an...

illustration of bacteria floating over intestinal villi

Gut Microbiota Acts Like an Auxiliary Liver

Microbes in the mammalian gut can significantly change their hosts’ amino acid and glucose metabolism, acting almost like an extra liver, according to a new preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

The study, published April 23 in Cell Host & Microbe, adds to the growing list of ways in which the microbiome influences physiology, and could lead to new strategies to treat conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease...

pink macrophages engulfing orange rodlike bacteria

An Immune Powerhouse: Dr. Carl Nathan on the Potential of Interferon-γ

Dr. Carl Nathan, chair of the department of microbiology and immunology and the R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor of Microbiology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has co-authored a review in Science on the immune protein interferon-gamma. He answered questions about its history and prospects as a therapeutic.

How was IFN-γ's basic biological role discovered?

In 1969-1971, while I was in medical school, I addressed a central mystery of the period: How do lymphocytes recognizing a specific...

Meet This Year’s Champions of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Dr. Andrea Card, assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has always embraced diversity, equity and inclusion, starting in the 1990s when she was a medical student—long before it became a priority across the country. This year, Dr. Card received the Bruce Laine Ballard Award at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Celebration of Diversity, part of the institution’s sixth annual Diversity Week, held April 15 in Griffis Faculty Club.

She has used her...

Weill Cornell Initiative Nurtures Doctoral Students' Leadership, Community Engagement Skills

Cinthia Garcia was always passionate about science and medicine. The first in her family to complete post-secondary education, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Emmanuel College in Boston in 2018 and then became a laboratory manager at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Still, she dreamed of a career as a physician-scientist, pursuing translational research with the potential to improve patient care.

Cinthia Garcia

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image showing cells stained blue, tau aggregates in green and neuron cytoskeleton in red

Human Neuron Model Paves the Way for New Alzheimer’s Therapies

Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have developed an innovative human neuron model that robustly simulates the spread of tau protein aggregates in the brain—a process that drives cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. This new model has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets that could potentially block tau spread.

The preclinical study, published April 5 in Cell, is a significant advancement in Alzheimer's disease research.

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