Metabolic
Weill Cornell Medicine launches $ 1.5 billion campaign to fund bench-to-bed research in precision health and genomics
Weill Cornell Medical has launched a $ 1.5 billion campaign to invest in bench-to-bedside research, including precision health, genomics and artificial intelligence.
The New York-based institution has already raised more than $ 750 million from existing benefactors.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of medicine in protecting and improving the health of our patients,” said Augustine MK Choi, MD, Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and Head of Medical Affairs at Cornell University in a statement.
“Our accomplished doctors and scientists strive to treat the entire patient for a lifetime by applying cutting-edge science and a personalized and evidence-based approach to disease prevention and treatment. Because of our generous donors, Weill Cornell Medicine is uniquely positioned to meet today’s healthcare challenges and transform medicine – because we can and must, ”said Choi.
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The campaign, titled “We’re Changing Medicine,” is supported by donations of $ 215 million from several of the institution’s longtime benefactors. Endowment gifts include $ 160 million from the Starr Foundation, Weill Family Foundation, and other donors to set up a medical student scholarship that allows recipients a debt-free education. Another $ 55 million donation will help build a new dormitory.
As part of the campaign, Weill Cornell Medicine will invest in building brand new facilities and upgraded biomedical research rooms in the Belfer Research Building in New York City, as well as developing cutting edge technologies and biomedical approaches in genomics, data science and artificial intelligence. and machine learning. One aim of the research is to uncover the causes of disease and to develop precision medical treatments.
Utilizing advanced research techniques to study the human genome, as well as observing how demographic, social, and lifestyle choices affect well-being, Weill Cornell Medicine plans to create a robust precision healthcare company to evaluate the individual factors underlying disease development.
Doctors will use this research to identify each person’s individual health risk and develop personalized prevention strategies for patients, according to the organization’s executives.
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Weill Cornell Medicine also plans to invest in regenerative medicine and cell therapeutics to accelerate the discovery of new treatments and therapies. The campaign will also focus on women’s health and infectious diseases, as well as diseases and disorders affecting the heart, brain and metabolic system.
“Improving the health care that patients receive is one of the most tangible ways to transform society,” Cornell University Board of Trustees Chairman Robert S. Harrison said in a statement. “This promising milestone will encourage the distinguished physicians, researchers and trainees of Weill Cornell Medicine to continue their important mission of transforming medicine.”
Weill Cornell Medicine includes Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Weill Cornell Physician Organization. The organization provides care in 64 locations including the New York-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, New York-Presbyterian Queens, and New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.