May 2017 milestones From left: Dr. Christopher Mason, Dr. Olivier Elemento, Igor Tulchinsky, Dr. Lewis Cantley ROGER TULLY Tulchinsky Gift Uses Finance Strategies to Move Medicine Forward A bold, new initiative made possible by a generous advanced financial algorithms and computational Board of Overseers. “We are very grateful to Igor gift from Overseer Igor Tulchinsky will enhance the methods, creating personalized disease and health Tulchinsky and WorldQuant, LLC for making this diagnosis and treatment of a variety of illnesses, models that will optimize treatment for patients. initiative possible.” including cancer, infectious The program will be co-directed Although the worlds of finance and medicine diseases and a range of “ This extremely creative by Dr. Christopher Mason, the may appear vastly different, both fields use “big neurological disorders. WorldQuant Foundation Research data” to discover important patterns, observes gift will accelerate and Mr. Tulchinsky’s gift of Scholar and associate professor Mr. Tulchinsky. He first became intrigued by the $5 million, made through his expand Weill Cornell of physiology and biophysics, and potential application of digital data to enhance company, WorldQuant, LLC, Medicine’s approach Dr. Olivier Elemento, the Walter biomedical research several years ago. In 2014, he will establish the WorldQuant to precision medicine, B. Wriston Research Scholar and established the WorldQuant Foundation Research Initiative for Quantitative providing new predictive associate professor of physiology Scholar Award, at Weill Cornell Medicine, Prediction at Weill Cornell tools that will lead to and biophysics. Drs. Mason currently held by Dr. Mason. Medicine, a biomedical even better outcomes and Elemento are longstanding “Interestingly, it is likely that the types of research initiative that will collaborators and colleagues; computing needed to analyze big data and solve function in collaboration for patients.” with this gift, they plan to pioneer certain complex problems – whether they’re related with scientists and physician Jessica Bibliowicz new algorithms and technologies to changing consumer needs or variabilities in tumor investigators at the Caryl and Chairman, Board of Overseers that will broaden the scope of cells – may be converging,’’ says Dr. Lewis Cantley, Israel Englander Institute for personalized medicine. the Meyer Director of the Meyer Cancer Center Precision Medicine and the Sandra and Edward “This extremely creative gift will accelerate and professor of cancer biology in medicine. “Mr. Meyer Cancer Center. and expand Weill Cornell Medicine’s approach Tulchinsky realizes the importance of developing The initiative aims to expand current strategies to precision medicine, providing new predictive this technology, and this very generous gift will used in precision medicine by combining state- tools that will lead to even better outcomes for accelerate our momentum in this highly competitive of-the-art molecular profiling technologies with patients,” says Jessica Bibliowicz, chairman of the and rapidly moving area of cancer research.” Continued on p. 2 Weill Cornell Medicine is home to some of the most innovative and dynamic physicians and scientists in the country. As an institution, we thrive on accelerating scientific discovery and working diligently to speed the latest cures and treatments to our patients. Dean Choi, along with our dedicated leadership, donors, faculty and staff, are visionaries in the true sense of the word. Together, we share a vision that pairs Our overarching novel scientific research and state-of-the-art technology with forward- goal: to help thinking ideas to advance medicine and healthcare. Our overarching goal: to help our patients lead healthier lives for generations to come. our patients lead The generous gift from Igor Tulchinsky, through WorldQuant, LLC, healthier lives featured in our cover story is a powerful example – and there are many for generations – of the synergy that is sparked when groundbreaking science and to come. medicine work hand-in-hand with industry and philanthropy. Partnerships like these have fueled so many of our accomplishments to date, and are essential to our ongoing growth. With the support of our leadership, donors and friends, Weill Cornell has become a world-class pioneer in academic medicine. And with Dean Choi guiding our path in the years to come, we are poised for even Our Chairman greater accomplishments ahead. As we continue to break boundaries in scientific discovery, empower our students to be skilled and compassionate physicians, and provide the finest care to our patients, I am particularly grateful to our partners for their continued support and commitment toward these efforts. Weill Cornell is truly at the forefront of a new era in medicine – and our patients’ lives continue to benefit from the momentum that we have created together. With gratitude, From Jessica Bibliowicz Chairman, Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Overseers Tulchinsky Gift Uses Finance Strategies to Move Medicine Forward continued from cover “We are looking forward to using the tools and methods that will spring from this philanthropic investment to tease apart cancer cells’ secrets and create predictive models of health for patients,” says Dr. Mason, who, along with Dr. Elemento, is associate professor of computational genomics at the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud Institute for Computational Biomedicine. “Not only does this gift enable new science and predictive models in medicine, it also creates an unprecedented collaboration between Weill Cornell Medicine and WorldQuant.” WorldQuant, an international quantitative investment management firm founded by Mr. Tulchinsky, who is chairman and CEO, uses TULLY ROGER proprietary algorithms to develop investment From left: Igor Tulchinsky, Dr. Christopher Mason, Dr. Olivier Elemento strategies. “There is a great opportunity to says Dr. Elemento. “This incredibly generous achieve new goals in the constantly evolving field take the technologies we’ve been developing gift will likely spur a whole new generation of of precision medicine.” and using in finance, and apply them in other biomedical discoveries by helping bring predictive Mr. Tulchinsky, who joined the Board of areas, particularly in predictive medicine disease analytics to precision medicine.” Overseers earlier this year, says he looks forward to and cancer, where the stakes are so high,” “The use of quantitative prediction for patients witnessing the exciting advances that will emerge Mr. Tulchinsky says. represents an important new tool at Weill Cornell as a result of the new initiative. By converging quantitative finance and precision Medicine,” says Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, the “I predict – and this is our first prediction – medicine, the new initiative will allow for Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean. “We appreciate that we’re going to achieve great things here,’’ “unprecedented predictive analytics of disease,’’ Mr. Tulchinsky’s generosity, which will help us he says. milestones | page 2 Scholar Awards Support the Best and Brightest To encourage support of the best and brightest physician-scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine, an anonymous donor has established a challenge grant to fund a scholar award. The grant will enable the creation of a $1 million naming opportunity of an Education Scholar Award (ESA) or Research Scholar Award (RSA) with a $750,000 gift. Research Scholar Awards provide endowed funding to rising-star scientists at the forefront of breakthrough discoveries. One rising star who has benefited from an RSA is Dr. Daylon James, the Queenie Victorina Neri Research Scholar and director of the Reproductive Endocrinology Laboratory at the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine. Dr. James, a research scientist whose expertise spans regenerative and reproductive medicine, explains that a variety of new techniques now make it easier for women to become pregnant after being treated for cancer. Some of those techniques utilize regenerative cell-based therapy, adds Dr. James, who – in addition to his work in fertility preservation – leads research collaborations aimed at improving the health of patients who suffer from a wide range of cardiovascular diseases. “Unfortunately, many successful cancer treatments can damage young women’s ovaries, putting them into early menopause and negatively affecting their fertility,” says Dr. James, an assistant professor of stem cell biology in reproductive medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, and an assistant professor of genetic medicine. “Our focus is to provide and preserve reproductive options for these patients in order to boost their quality of life after the cure,” he says. In his multifaceted role, Dr. James also mentors clinical fellows in reproductive endocrinology in their basic research year at the Perelman-Cohen Center, led by Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, physician-in-chief of reproductive medicine and an overseer at Weill Cornell Medicine. Named in memory of a beloved young scientist and research associate in reproductive medicine who exuded great enthusiasm, selflessness and dedication to scientific achievement, the Queenie Victorina Neri Research Scholar Award will have a lasting impact by supporting Dr. James’ continued work in fertility preservation, and for that he is extremely grateful. “The idea touches my heart, that we are helping preserve a full life for women who have survived cancer,” Dr. James says. For more information,