Dear WCM community,
As the summer draws to a close and our academic year starts in earnest, I’ve been thinking a lot about uncertainty.
So far, 2025 has been a year full of stressful change and complexity. It is nearly impossible to go a full day without urgent headlines about the ground shifting beneath us – whether that’s in national research priorities, approaches to clinical care, or the conversation around higher education.
Over the last month, a dynamic new group of students have arrived on our campus. There are 106 embarking on their M.D.s, 41 starting their work towards a Ph.D., and 253 pursuing master’s degrees. Another 57 are starting the medical curriculum at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar. All are embarking on clinical and scientific careers in a time of uncertainty.
I believe the power and promise of academic medicine could not be more important in these times. We explore the unknowns of science to expand the truth and what we know. We are there for our patients and communities, sometimes in their most uncertain moments, delivering care with empathy, trust and the best science has to offer. We train new clinicians and scientists to carry these values far into an unpredictable future.
Our missions to care, to discover, and to teach have always been about making the uncertain more certain.
As I enter my third year as dean of Weill Cornell Medicine, I will continue to lead with trust and truth, and with open communication and transparency as cornerstones to how we tackle the challenges ahead. I operate from a place of optimism and encourage us all to focus on finding opportunities to drive change and make a difference. We will get through this time together.
Whether you are just setting foot on campus for the first time this week or are returning from summer vacation after decades on our team, thank you for being an important part of our community and changing medicine every day.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Harrington, M.D.
Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean
Weill Cornell Medicine
Provost for Medical Affairs
Cornell University