The Weill Cornell Graduate School (WCGS) Teaching and Mentoring Award honors a faculty member who has demonstrated exceptional excellence in teaching and mentoring students, postdocs, and fellow faculty.
David P. Hajjar Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award
Beginning in 2022, the prestigious teaching and mentoring award was renamed the David P. Hajjar Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award. This esteemed honor recognizes a faculty member of the Weill Cornell Graduate School who has exemplified exceptional dedication to the teaching and mentorship of students, postdocs, and fellow faculty.
Recipients
2024
Jason Lewis, PhD
Member, Pharmacology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute
Professor, Pharmacology Program
2023
Daniel A. Bachovchin, PhD
Associate Professor, Pharmacology Program
2022
Mary Baylies, PhD
Member, Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute
Co-Director, BCMB Program
Professor, BCMB Program

Weill Cornell Graduate School Teaching and Mentoring Award
Recipients
2021
Carl Nathan, MD
Chair, Immunology & Microbial Pathogenesis Graduate Program
Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
2020
Sabine Ehrt, PhD
Professor, Immunology & Microbial Pathogenesis Graduate Program
Co-Chair, Immunology & Microbial Pathogenesis Graduate Program
2019
Anjali M. Rajadhyaksha, PhD
Associate Professor, Neuroscience Graduate Program
2018
Yueming Li, PhD
Professor, Pharmacology and Neuroscience Graduate Programs
Member, Chemical Biology Program, SKI
2017
Mary Baylies, PhD
Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology Graduate Program
Co-Director, BCMB Allied Graduate Programs
Member, Developmental Biology Program, SKI
2016
David Scheinberg, MD, PhD
Chair, Pharmacology Graduate Program
Chair, Molecular Pharmacology Program, SKI
Director, Center for Experimental Therapeutics

Program-Specific Teaching and Mentoring Awards
The Weill Cornell Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award recognizes faculty members in our doctoral programs who have been exemplary in showing their dedication to training our first-and-second-year students during their transition to graduate school.
Recipients
2024
Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program
- Theresa Lu, MD, PhD
Member, Immunology Program, Hospital for Special Surgery
Co-Director, Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program
Pharmacology Program
- Kristen Pleil, PhD
Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine
2023
Pharmacology Program
- Anthony Sauve, PhD
Associate Professor, Pharmacology Program
2022
BCMB Allied Program
- Kirk Deitsch, PhD
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine
Co-Chair, Molecular Biology (BCMB) Program
Professor, BCMB Program
Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program
- Joseph Sun, PhD
Member, Immunology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute
Co-Director, IMP Program
Professor, IMP Program
Neuroscience Program
- Jonathan David Victor, M.D, PhD
Director of the Division of Systems Neurology and Neuroscience
Fred Plum Professor of Neurology
Professor of Neuroscience, Weill Cornell Medicine
Professor of Computation Neuroscience in Computational Biomedicine
Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine
Physiology, Biophysics & Systems Biology Program
- Jason Mezey, PhD
Professor of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Professor, PBSB Program
Pharmacology Program
- John Blenis, PhD
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Professor in Cancer Research
Associate Director of Basic Science, The Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center
Professor of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine
Director, Pharmacology Program
Professor, Pharmacology Program
2021
Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program
- Alexander Rudensky, PhD
Chairman, Immunology Program, SKI
Director, Ludwig Center at MSK
Co-Chair, IMP Program
Neuroscience Program
- Anna Orr, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
Brain and Mind Research Institute
Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology Program
- Lucy A Skrabanek, PhD
Assistant Professor of Computational Biomedicine in Physiology and Biophysics
2020
BCMB Allied Program
- Richard White, MD, PhD
Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program
- Sabine Ehrt, PhD
Neuroscience Program
- Conor Liston, MD, PhD
Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology Program
- Scott Blanchard, PhD
Pharmacology Program
- Daniel Heller, PhD