The first Starr Foundation grant to Cornell University Medical Center in 1955 launched a historic partnership that has advanced research and patient care and supported world-class medical education at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), which is one of the United States’ top-ranked medical schools and hospitals.
Grants have been dedicated to research and programs, faculty recruitment, capital funding, and debt-free medical education and scholarships.
Research & Programs
From cancer and stem cell research to biochemistry, genetic medicine, cardiology, Parkinson’s disease, and more, Weill Cornell Medicine’s pioneering bench-to-bedside research tackles some of the most critical diseases of our times.
Additional Foundation support for WCM includes:
WCM is a partner in the Starr Cancer Consortium, a collaboration among five of the world’s leading biomedical research centers aimed at developing and applying innovative approaches to transform the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer. Additional support for WCM cancer research includes a 2001 $1.2 million grant for the Retinoblastoma Tumor Center and a $7 million grant in 2016 for The Starr Foundation Glionoid Translational Core, which helped develop revolutionary technology to treat patients with lethal malignant glioma (glioblastoma) tumors and other cancers.
The Starr Foundation has supported WCM’s work in cardiology for more than three decades, including the first-ever trial of cardiac bypass surgery specifically for women (ROMA-W trial); the David Wallace-Starr Foundation Professor of Clinical Pediatric Cardiology; the Cardiovascular Genetics Center; and the Cardiovascular Research Institute.
The Starr Foundation has funded research and clinical care at Weill Cornell’s Parkinson’s Disease & Movement Disorders Institute since 2013. During this time, the Institute successfully developed a human embryonic stem cell–based treatment to restore neurological function to Parkinson’s patients. This milestone led to the first clinical trial in which dopamine-producing nerve cells grown from human embryonic stem cells in a lab were transplanted into the brains of Parkinson’s patients.
Over the years, The Starr Foundation has donated $100 million to build and improve Weill Cornell Medicine’s laboratories and patient facilities. The Belfer Research Building, featuring The Starr Foundation-Maurice R. Greenberg Conference Center, is home to a thriving community of physician-scientists, researchers, faculty, and students pursuing translational and clinical research targeting some of the most formidable health challenges of our time, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, children’s health, global health, and infectious diseases. It also serves as a hub for scientists from WCM and around the globe to collaborate on the latest discoveries and research. The Belfer Research Building’s proximity to the adjacent Starr-supported Weill Greenberg Center, the medical college’s flagship ambulatory care center, ensures that breakthroughs made in the laboratory are applied quickly to improve patient care.
In 2019, The Starr Foundation made a lead gift of $90 million—the single largest in the Foundation’s history—to launch a bold new scholarship program at Weill Cornell Medicine. The landmark gift supports the WCM initiative to replace loans with scholarships for all WCM students who qualify for financial aid, which is historically about half the student body. These scholarships enable all medical students to choose from a wider number of specialties and jobs, including areas of medicine that are of great societal value but traditionally have offered lower compensation. Learn more about WCM’s debt-free medical education initiative.
Maurice R. Greenberg Distinguished Service Award
Recognizing the importance of attracting and supporting world-class medical professionals, in 1980, The Starr Foundation established the Maurice R. Greenberg Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center bestows upon a physician. Founded by longtime Starr Foundation Chair Maurice R. Greenberg and renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Peter Guida, the award recognizes a senior member of the medical staff for exceptional and longstanding service and is a crowning achievement for doctors and surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Other select initiatives established or supported by Foundation grants:
- The Genetic Medicine Program endowment supports essential technologies for drug discovery and design that are housed within the High Throughput Screening Resource Center, which is jointly operated by Weill Cornell Medicine and the Rockefeller University.
- The Greenberg-Starr Professorship of Pharmacology funds research that lays the groundwork for future clinical and industrial biotechnologies to advance therapeutics that improve patients’ lives.
- The Greenberg-Starr Professorship is funded by an endowment to support research in areas such as minimally invasive surgical techniques that help people with vascular disease live longer and fuller lives
- Maurice R. Greenberg Fellowship in Geriatrics at the Irving Sherwood Wright Center on Aging is designed to help train outstanding geriatricians who then join faculty throughout the country. Fellows participate in rotations for inpatient and ICU services, outpatient palliative services, and direct care via the Hospice and Palliative Care Unit.
Weill Cornell Medicine is a partner in the Starr Cancer Consortium and in the Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative, which have collectively received $350 million in Starr Foundation grants.
Learn more about WCM