Women's Health Alert: Fighting Heart Disease in Your 40s
The risk for heart-related death is increasing in young adults ages 35 to 54, and the numbers are even more alarming for younger women. It is the number-one cause of death for both men and women in the United States, yet every year since 1984 more women have died of cardiovascular health problems than men, according to the American Heart Association.

The Endangered Future of the Physician-Scientist
Practicing clinicians have traditionally played a central role in research, advancing breakthrough treatments for innumerable diseases, from smallpox and cholera to heart disease and cancer. While their insights remain important as ever, recent years have seen the role of the physician-scientist become greatly diminished.

Explaining the reasons for this shift as well as potential solutions is a new book called "The Vanishing Physician-Scientist?" (Cornell University Press) by Dr. Andrew I. Schafer, the E. Hugh Luckey Distinguished Professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and physician-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The Earthquake in Haiti — Dispatch from Port-au-Prince
An article published in yesterday’s online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine describes the success and the challenges in medical care that doctors from the Weill Cornell affiliated GHESKIO clinic, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, are faced with following the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12.

GHESKIO was the first institution in the world dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The center has provided continuous medical care in Haiti since 1982 -- never once shutting its doors or charging fees. Since the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake GHESKIO has been providing humanitarian assistance to 5,000 refugees, emergency care to thousands affected by the disaster, and continues to provide life-saving medications to people with HIV/AIDS.

Reaching Out for the Greater Good
As a land-grant institution, Cornell University is charged with an educational mission that goes beyond a standard university curriculum. Steeped in history and privilege, the University extends to its students unparalleled opportunities to study among the brightest minds in the country. Along with that great opportunity, says Cornell University President Dr. David Skorton, comes the even greater responsibility of global service.

Weill Cornell Medical College Helps Haiti
GHESKIO clinics are in the epicenter of Tuesday’s earthquake. Weill Cornell Medical College has a 30 year history of collaboration with GHESKIO which is currently providing care and treatment to over 100,000 people in Port-au-Prince and its environs. You can help by donating funds which will go directly to GHESKIO in Haiti.

National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities Awards $8 Million to Weill Cornell
Weill Cornell Medical College has established a new research center to improve medical care in ethnically diverse and medically underserved communities in New York City.

The Comprehensive Center of Excellence in Disparities Research and Community Engagement (CEDREC) was created through an $8 million grant from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Carla Boutin-Foster was awarded the grant and will serve as the Center's director.

New Way to Generate Abundant Functional Blood Vessel Cells From Human Stem Cells Discovered
In a significant step toward restoring healthy blood circulation to treat a variety of diseases, a team of scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College has developed a new technique and described a novel mechanism for turning human embryonic and pluripotent stem cells into plentiful, functional endothelial cells, which are critical to the formation of blood vessels. Endothelial cells form the interior "lining" of all blood vessels and are the main component of capillaries, the smallest and most abundant vessels. In the near future, the researchers believe, it will be possible to inject these cells into humans to heal damaged organs and tissues.

The new approach allows scientists to generate virtually unlimited quantities of durable endothelial cells — more than 40-fold the quantity possible with previous approaches. Based on insights into the genetic mechanisms that regulate how embryonic stem cells form vascular endothelial cells, the approach may also yield new ways to study genetically inherited vascular diseases. The study appears in the advance online issue of Nature Biotechnology.

Animal Behavioral Studies Can Mimic Human Behavior
Studying animals in behavioral experiments has been a cornerstone of psychological research, but whether the observations are relevant for human behavior has been unclear. Weill Cornell Medical College researchers have identified an alteration to the DNA of a gene that imparts similar anxiety-related behavior in both humans and mice, demonstrating that laboratory animals can be accurately used to study these human behaviors.

The findings may help researchers develop new clinical strategies to treat humans with anxiety disorders, such as phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).