Dear Weill Cornell Medicine Community,
I am writing to inform you of several exciting leadership appointments at Weill Cornell Medicine that will keep us at the forefront of biomedical graduate education and research.
Dr. Gary Koretzky
First, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Gary Koretzky has been appointed to a new position as Vice Dean, focused on academic integration, starting July 1. In this role, he will lead both Weill Cornell Medicine’s and Cornell University’s efforts in academic integration and will be responsible for fostering research and educational synergies across campuses. Dr. Koretzky, who is also the Frank H.T. Rhodes Distinguished Professor in Cardiovascular Biology and Genetics, plans to facilitate interactions among faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Tech, and Cornell’s Ithaca campus, with the goal of building nationally recognized, cross-campus research centers and innovative, jointly coordinated programs in biomedical graduate education. Reporting directly to Cornell University Provost Michael Kotlikoff and me, he will spearhead efforts to identify optimal areas for collaboration in fields such as genetics, informatics, and biomedical engineering.
Dr. Koretzky is stepping down as Vice Dean for Research and as Dean of the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. I am delighted that he will be assuming a new role in academic integration—a strategic priority for Weill Cornell Medicine and for the university—and would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his many contributions to our institution thus far. Under Dr. Koretzky’s leadership, Weill Cornell Medicine has experienced a significant expansion of its research enterprise, including recruitment of outstanding faculty at all levels, a major increase in sponsored research funding, and new programs in grant-writing support and career development. Our Graduate School continues to attract extremely talented doctoral and master’s students, and the diversity of our graduate student body has increased. Curricular enhancements, improvements in administrative support services, and new community-building events have also enriched the learning experience for our graduate students.
Dr. Carl Nathan
Dr. Carl Nathan will serve as Dean of the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, starting September 1, pending approval by the Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Overseers and the Cornell University Board of Trustees. The R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor of Microbiology and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dr. Nathan is strongly committed to advancing graduate biomedical education and supporting our young scientists in their research endeavors. He has served with distinction in multiple leadership roles since joining Weill Cornell Medicine in 1986, including as founding director of the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD program and, for 18 years, co-chair of the Graduate School’s Program in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis. He also led the planning team for the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute and currently sits on its Board of Directors. Dr. Nathan has conducted pioneering investigations that have shaped our basic understanding of innate immunity and host-pathogen interactions. As a member of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s TB Drug Accelerator and principal investigator of the Tri-Institutional TB Research Unit, his laboratory now examines the biochemical factors that allow tuberculosis bacteria to resist sterilization by the immune system and is identifying compounds that kill non-replicating bacteria.
Dr. David Christini
Dr. David Christini has been appointed Vice Dean of the Graduate School. In this role, he will develop and implement educational innovations for our master’s and doctoral students, ensuring that they are exposed to the latest in biomedical research and training. Dr. Christini, who is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering in Medicine, of Physiology and Biophysics, and of Computational Biomedicine in the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, has risen steadily through the ranks since joining Weill Cornell Medicine as an instructor in 1998. In his previous appointment as Associate Dean for Programmatic Development, he concentrated on academic and curricular strategy, working in close coordination with faculty and graduate student leaders. His laboratory investigates the biophysical mechanisms that lead to cardiac arrhythmias, from the subcellular to the organ level.
For more information on these leadership appointments, please see our press release.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Koretzky, Dr. Nathan, and Dr. Christini. I look forward to working with each of them as we seek to take our educational and research programs to the next level—through a continued focus on excellence here at Weill Cornell Medicine and through greater integration across Cornell’s campuses in Ithaca and New York City.
Sincerely,
Augustine M.K. Choi, MD
Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean
Weill Cornell Medicine