GENERAL FACULTY COUNCIL MINUTES
JOAN AND SANFORD I. WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE AND
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES OF
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
GENERAL FACULTY COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting held November 12, 2001
Uris Faculty Room (A-126)
Present: Dr. Randi Silver, Dr. Marlin Mattson, Dr. William A.
Muller, Dr. Joseph T. Cooke, Dr. Harvey Goldberg, Dr. Philip Gutin,
Dr. Louis Maggio, Dr. Takashi Mikawa, Dr. Teresa Milner, Dr. Ellinor
Peerschke, Dr. Hugh D. Robertson, Dr. David A. Shapiro, Dr. Robert
Snow and Dr. Michael Ushay.
Also Present: Dr. Bruce L. Ballard, Ms. Joanne Blauer,
Dr. Frank A. Chervenak, Ms. Nancy L. Farrell, Dr. David P. Hajjar,
Dr. Brian Kelly, Dr. Peter Marzuk, Ms. Susan B. McCreight, Ms.
Carolyn Reid, Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, Dr. Lisa Staiano-Coico, Dr. Carol
Storey-Johnson and Mr. Douglas Weine.
3:30pm: Following the arrival
of the non-voting members, Dr. Silver convened the meeting.
Dr. Silver welcomed Dr. Hajjar, Dean of Weill Graduate School
of Medical Sciences, who spoke on behalf of Dean Gotto, and Dr.
Ellinor Peerschke, Professor of Pathology, who is a new member
of the Council representing Pathology. Dr. Peerschke replaces
Dr. Ronald A. DeLellis, who has resigned from the Medical College.
I. ACTION ITEMS
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. The Council
approved the minutes of its meeting held October 8, 2001.
2. APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS. The Council
approved the recommendations of the Committee of Review as listed
in its memorandum dated October 24, 2001.
3. NAME CHANGE FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY. The
Council approved the request to change the name of the Department
of Pathology to "Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine",
as requested in the attached letter from Dr. Daniel M. Knowles,
Chairman of the Department of Pathology, to Dean Gotto.
II. REPORT ITEMS
1. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT.
Dr. Silver reported on the GFC website, which can be found online
at http://www.med.cornell.edu/leadership/gfc.
The website includes the by-laws of the Council, the membership
directory, meeting dates, as well as minutes of previous meetings.
Dr. Silver reported the following two
nominations for the open Basic Sciences Member-at-Large position
on the Council: Dr. Neil Harrison, Professor of Pharmacology in
Anesthesiology, who has a secondary appointment as Professor of
Pharmacology, and Dr. Ching Hwa-Sung, Associate Professor of Cell
Biology in Ophthalmology, who has a secondary appointment as Associate
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy. Ballots will be distributed
to the basic science faculty members to vote for their preferred
candidate.
Dr. Silver reported that the first lecture of the GFC sponsored
course on Obesity and Lipid Disorders entitled, "Medical
Complications of Obesity", given by Dr. F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer
of Columbia University was excellently received by those in attendance.
Dr. Silver encouraged the Council to attend the remaining lectures
in the series, and to encourage their departmental colleagues
to attend.
2. BOARD OF OVERSEERS REPORT. Dr. Zev Rosenwaks,
Full-Time Faculty Representative on the Board of Overseers, reported
on the Board of Overseers Retreat of November 6-8, 2001 held at
the White Oak Plantation in Yulee, Florida.
During the Retreat, the Board reviewed
the long-range clinical and academic plans for the Medical College,
and construction projects and plans. Dr. Hajjar noted that
the Board was dedicated to advancing the plans for a new research
building following the clinical facility being proposed in order
to both maintain WMC’s excellence in research, and to recruit
outstanding department chairmen.
Dr. Lisa Staiano-Coico, Senior Associate Dean (Research), delivered
a report to the Board entitled, "New Frontiers for Research,"
which highlighted the direction of academic research in clinical
medicine. Dr. Frank A. Chervenak, Chairman of the Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Dr. O. Wayne Isom, Chairman of the
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery; and Dr. Ralph L. Nachman,
Chairman of the Department of Medicine gave a presentation entitled,
"The Making of a Clinical Department".
Dr. Daniel R. Alonso, Dean, WCMC-Qatar,
and Ms. Haava Idriss, Vice Dean (Administration), WCMC-Qatar presented
an update including the construction plans and security measures
for the Medical College in Qatar. Dr. Alonso and his staff
will relocate to Qatar in February 2002.
Mr. Kevin Brine, Chairman of the Board of Overseers Development
Committee, reported on the progress of the Campaign.
In addition, Dr. Rosenwaks noted that
at the Board of Overseers meeting held November 8, the Board approved
the establishment of the Richard Rodgers Family Professorship
in Pediatric Urology, and the election of Dix Poppas, M.D. to
be the Richard Rodgers Family Associate Professor in Pediatric
Urology. The Board also approved the revisions to the Academic
Staff Handbook.
3. OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT.
Dr. Silver introduced Brian Kelly, Ph.D., Director of the Office
of Technology Development (OTD) and Vice President of the Cornell
Research Foundation, Inc. (CRF) to the Council. Dr. Kelly,
former Director of Intellectual Property in the Office of Industrial
Liaison at New York University, joined Weill Medical College in
September.
Dr. Kelly reported on the duties and activities of the OTD and
the CRF in a presentation entitled, "Technology Transfer
at Weill Medical College". He explained that the principal
responsibility of his office is the transfer of intellectual property
rights of the Medical College to a for-profit organization.
The OTD accomplishes this by promoting collaborations with for-profit
industry in the commercialization of research results and advances
in medical technology. This process not only encourages
innovations that will benefit the public, it also generates income
to support and advance the WMC mission.
To promote collaborations between Medical College faculty and
commercial industry, the OTD provides advice and counsel to the
faculty on the identification, legal protection, and transfer
of intellectual property. The OTD also communicates with
private businesses both to forge relationships with them and with
appropriate faculty researchers and to optimize the return of
financial and related resources to WMC, faculty inventors, and
CRF. In cases of federally funded research, the OTD follows
government regulations regarding the filing of patents on University
owned inventions, the preference for using small businesses to
commercialize research and inventions, and the government’s
right to practice the patent under a non-exclusive license.
Dr. Kelly noted that the intention of his office, once fully
staffed, will be to encourage faculty involved in research to
file patents for the products of their research and to collaborate
with private industry to commercialize such products. Dr.
Kelly acknowledged the risk involved in filing patents, and noted
that he and his staff would advise faculty in determining the
potential merit of a patent in the commercial market. He
also stressed OTD’s intention to complete the filing process
for patents in a timely fashion.
Dr. Staiano-Coico urged the members
of the Council to report Dr. Kelly’s mission and offer of
his services to the faculty in their departments.
4. DEAN’S REPORT. In the
absence of Dean Gotto, Dr. David P. Hajjar, Dean of the Weill
Graduate School of Medical Sciences, delivered the Dean’s
Report.
The search to fill the Chairmanship of the Department of Pediatrics
is progressing quickly and the search for a new Frances L. and
John L. Loeb Librarian will begin shortly.
Four candidates from within WMC have been nominated to the Dean
for the Chairmanship of the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy.
A candidate has been submitted to the
Dean for the Chairmanship of the Department of Physiology and
Biophysics, and that the Dean is in negotiations with the candidate.
Dean Alonso presented the plans for
WCMC-Qatar to the Board of Trustees at its meeting of October
20, 2001, to the Board of Overseers at its Retreat on November
8, 2001, and to the Department Chairs. WCMC-Qatar has advertised
available faculty positions in the New York Times.
Dr. Hajjar noted that considerable interest has been expressed
for these positions, particularly for the two-year pre-medical
program. Dean Alonso has been overseeing issues of security
with respect to WCMC-Qatar. The State Department, with whom
WMC has consulted since the inception of the project, continues
to support the project from a security standpoint. The Medical
College will continue WCMC-Qatar plans as long as the State Department
continues its favorable position on the project but we are able
to discontinue the project should we deem it necessary for reasons
of security.
Dr. Hajjar reported on the progress
of Phase I of the Strategic Plan: 19 new basic science faculty
members have been hired and the remaining 10 positions provided
for under the Plan will be filled in conjunction with the new
chairs of Cell Biology and Anatomy and Physiology and Biophysics
when they are appointed. New faculty hires have already
justified their recruitment packages by bringing significant NIH
funding support to WMC, exceeding our expectations.
At Dr. Hajjar’s request, Dr. Staiano-Coico
reported on Cores and Services at WMC. In all, 20 Core Facilities
should be open by February of 2002. Of the new facilities
under construction, three are near completion and expected to
be operational by the new year: the Citigroup Imaging Center,
the Cell Function Screening Core and the Computational Genomics
Core. The Office of Research & Sponsored Programs (RASP)
provides a guide to research cores and facilities for all faculty
that is continually updated.
5. ADJOURNMENT. The meeting was adjourned at
4:30pm.
