Dear Members of the Englander Institute,
I’m really happy to share this month’s EIPM Director’s Memo with you because there are so many great new initiatives, partnerships, news coverage, events, and publications to celebrate!
The work we do at the Englander Institute is always important to me, but it’s especially meaningful when we focus our attention and talents on areas of health, medicine, and science that have traditionally been overlooked. That’s why I was so impressed with the recent Precision Health Equity Symposium we hosted on October 27-28th with our friends from the Meyer Cancer Center and NewYork-Presbyterian’s Dalio Center for Health Justice. Congratulations to our Director of Health Equity Dr. Melissa B. Davis and Dr. Lisa A. Newman for their hard work and success in organizing this first annual event.
More than 70 faculty members from Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Engineering and Cornell Tech assembled in Ithaca earlier this month to kick off the Cornell Engineering Innovations in Medicine initiative. The newly launched effort, which has been identified as a priority by university leadership, aims to meaningfully advance clinical and translational research, as well as develop new educational programs, through unconventional cross-campus partnerships. I was happy to participate in the kick off event a few weeks ago and chair a session on data-driven medicine, and for the EIPM to be an important part of this new initiative.
The Meyer Cancer Center and the EIPM wrapped up our annual 6-week summer program for high school and college students at the end of August. Designed to improve education related to cancer and precision medicine, the hybrid summer program provides mentorship and encourages the pursuit of STEM careers. We hope you enjoy learning more about this exciting program!
On December 5th our friends at the Meyer Cancer Center will host the “Meyer Cancer Center 360: Immunology and Cancer,” the second meeting of this quarterly series that aims to explore critical research questions among the patients and community that we serve, with speakers including our Associate Director for Precision Immunology Dr. Laura Santambrogio. Learn more and register today!
We are still looking to fill several exciting new career opportunities at the EIPM, please share this information within your professional networks so we can quickly staff-up.
Thank you again for your hard work and continued dedication to our mission.
Sincerely,
Olivier Elemento, Ph.D.
News Coverage & Awards
Several news outlets continued to cover last months story of new NIH support for an important project to create an artificial intelligence platform with our colleagues from the University of South Florida and Owkin to use voice to diagnose disease, including The New York Post, Forbes, Canadian, and National Public Radio.
Dr. Ekta Khurana was interviewed for the article, “Research Examines a New Tool for Discovering Cancer-Driving Structural Variations,” which appeared in The ASCO Post on October 5th.
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dr. Lisa A. Newmanwas interviewed for the article “Early Detection is Important in Breast Cancer Care,” by Weill Cornell Medicine’s Newsroom, October 5th. Dr. Newman also wrote the article, “All Types of Women Get Breast Cancer — So Why Do They Get Different Treatments?” on the Katie Couric Mediawebsite, October 14th.
Scientific Director Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli was interviewed for the article “Dr. Cristofanilli on Optimal Targeted Therapies in Metastatic HR-Positive Breast Cancer,” which appeared on OncLiveTV on October 5th.
Our Director of Bladder Cancer Research Dr.
Bishoy M. Faltas provided Expert Commentary, “Clinical Outcomes Associated with T Cell Changes Following Chemotherapy,” to UroToday on September 29th.
Dr. Nassar Altorki was interviewed for the article, “Sublobar Resection for Small, Early-Stage NSCLC: Establishing a New Standard of Care?” which appeared in The ASCO Post on October 10th.
Events
Dr. Iman Hajirasouliha presented “Precision Medicine and AI: what we’ve learned and how it can impact ART,” at the Fairtility AI Academy on October 18th.
Dr. Lisa A. Newman participated in “The Best of the Breast: Top Doctors Have a Candid Conversation About Cancer,” with Katie Couric on October 11th.
Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi presented a CCB seminar on mechanisms of CDK4/6 inhibitor sity in Leuven, Belgium October 11th.
Dr. Melissa B. Davis chaired the #MAP2022 educational session “Molecular characterisation in under-served populations,” on October 15th. Dr. Davis also presented “Role of Race vs. Ancestry in Breast Cancer Disparities,” at OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute in Portland on October 17th.
The EIPM’s AI-XR Lab team, led by Alexandros Sigaras, presented their latest work at the 2022 Cornell XR Retreat on October 14th. The AI-XR Lab works with students, researchers, and faculty on a variety of AR/VR projects and courses. Mr. Sigaras also discussed using artificial intelligence and extended reality opportunities in clinical education and care delivery at WCM’s Center for Virtual Care’s VHC Symposium on October 21st. Finally, Mr. Sigarasalso co-lead a study between WCM and WCM-Qatar on training the doctors of the future in the Metaverse, with the October 19th launch our first official joint session across the Atlantic on how medical education can benefit from the metaverse.
Our Molecular Aging Institute’s Clinical Director Dr. Pinkal Desai presented “What every doctor needs to know about clonal hematopoiesis,” at the 2022 Lymphoma, Leukemia & Myeloma Congress in New York on October 19th.
I was happy to present “Accelerating Precision Oncology Using MultiOmics and Artificial Intelligence,” at the 2022 WIN Symposium on October 30th. I’ll be presenting a virtual talk, “The Single-Cell Pathology Landscape of Diffuse Large B cell Lymphoma,” to the Lymphoma Research Experts on November 3rd at 1 PM EST; I’ll also be presenting “Catalyzing Biotech,” before The Biotech Club at Cornell on Nov. 11th at 6 PM, Belfer room #100.
]Several executives from Illumina and NewYork-Presbyterian toured our facilities on October 24th and met with our colleagues. From left to right: Dr. Peter Fleischut, Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian; Emme Deland, MBA, Senior Vice President for Strategy at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital; Francis DeSouza, CEO of Illumina; myself; Elizabeth Taylor, Illumina Executive Territory Account Manager, Southern Manhattan; and Pratima Rao, Illumina’s Chief of Staff, VP of Business Operations. A fun new Instagram account highlights many recent visitors to our facilities!
]Our Director for Liquid Biopsy Research Dr. Pashtoon Kasi spoke on October 22nd at the International Society of Liquid Biopsy’s 4th Annual Congress on detecting fusions in cancer using liquid biopsies.
Our colleague Dr. John Leonard will present an “Update on Enterprise Innovation” at WCM’s 6th Annual Symposium on Entrepreneurship and Academic Drug Development on November 14th. Learn more about this exciting event and register today!
Dr. Juan Miguel Mosquera from the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine department, and the EIPM, along with colleagues, are proud to share a record number of eighteen (18!) abstracts accepted at @USCAP2023!
Publications
“FORT-1: Phase II/III Study of Rogaratinib Versus Chemotherapy in Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma Selected Based on FGFR1/3 mRNA Expression,” was co-authored by our Clinical Director Dr. Cora N. Sternberg in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on October 14th.
“Cooperative ETS transcription factors enforce adult endothelial cell fate and cardiovascular homeostasis,” by Dr. Shahin Rafii in Nature Cardiovascular Research on October 6th, and covered by the Weill Cornell Medicine Newsroom.
“Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy in Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Comprehensive Review,” co-authored by our Director for Liquid Biopsy Research Dr. Pashtoon Kasi in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology on October 6th.
“Breast Cancer Statistics, 2022, the American Cancer Society’s update on female breast cancer statistics in the United States,” in CA: A Cancer Journal of Clinicians, co-authored by Dr. Lisa A. Newman, October 3rd.
“Multi-Omic analyses characterize the ceramide/sphingomyelin pathway as a therapeutic target in Alzheimer’s disease,” in Nature Communications Biology, co-authored by Dr. Karsten Suhre on October 8th.
“Case report: Metastatic urothelial cancer with an exceptional response to immunotherapy and comprehensive understanding of the tumor and the tumor microenvironment,” by Dr. Juan Miguel Mosquera from the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department and our Director of Research Pathology, along with EIPM’s Clinical Director Dr. Cora N. Sternberg, Jyothi Manohar, Michael Sigouros, Majd Al Assaad from Pathology/EIPM, and myself in Frontiers in Oncology on October 31st.
“Host protein kinases required for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid phosphorylation and viral replication,” in Science Signaling by Drs. Tomer M. Yaron, Alexander Kerelsky, Harel Weinstein, former colleague Danielle K. Bulaon, and myself with Meyer Cancer Center colleagues, et al, on October 25th.
“Unsupervised discovery of tissue architecture in multiplexed imaging,” in Nature Methods by EIPM’s Dr. André F. Rendeiro, Dr. Juan Miguel Mosquera from the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine department, and the EIPM, and myself with additional WCM colleagues, on October 31st.