In its landmark 10th year, the Weill Department of Medicine held its annual Research Retreat on Friday, Nov. 14, attracting faculty, residents, and postdoctoral trainees from across Weill Cornell Medicine. The conference is unique in its aim to promote engagement among faculty at various stages of their career through both structured Q&A sessions and informal discussions. Virtually all of the Department’s divisions were represented, including Cardiology, General Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Cardiology, Global Health, Hematology & Medical Oncology, and Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine.
This year’s event featured 80 poster presentations and emerging research presented by junior and senior faculty on topics including diabetes, systemic treatment optimization in breast cancer, the biologic underpinnings of kidney transplant rejection, proteolethargy as an apathogenic mechanism in chronic disease, and more.
After an introduction by Kyu Rhee, MD, PHD, Vice Chair of Research, who underscored the vital importance of research in medicine within a challenging national climate, Puja Chebrolu, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the division of General Internal Medicine, kicked off the day discussing findings from her study on diabetes without obesity, a vastly understudied topic affecting approximately 74 million people, particularly among populations in Southeast Asia. A 2021 Fund for the Future recipient, Dr. Chebrolu also reflected on the profound impact of mentoring on her career.
Thangamani Muthukumar, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine in the division of Nephrology and Hypertension, presented a talk titled “Kidney Transplant Rejection: Beyond What the Eye Perceive,” which focused on the biologic underpinnings of kidney transplant rejection. Vered Stearns, MD, Professor of Medicine in the division of Hematology and Oncology, shared a talk titled, “The Preoperative Setting for Systemic Treatment Optimization in Breast Cancer,” which explored her findings on how surgical intervention to shrink tumors led to a more tailored, less taxing subsequent path of treatment, including a reduced need for chemotherapy. Zainab Motiwala, MBBS, a research assistant in the division of General Internal Medicine, discussed findings from her study on gestational and postpartum diabetes in a community health setting in Pune, India. Jesse Platt, MD, PHD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, discussed how proteolethargy—the phenomena of reduced mobility in proteins in the cell—is linked to various chronic conditions such as diabetes. Finally, Franco Castillo Tokumori, MD, Instructor in Medicine in the division of Hematology and Oncology, delivered a talk titled “Functional Annotation of Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Clones Reveals Mutation-Specific Fitness and Differentiation Bias.”
The keynote address was delivered by Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President of Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at Ceders-Sinai Health System, who led a spirited talk on his part in groundbreaking studies on the pathogenic role of circulating angiogenic factors in preeclampsia, which has provided greater opportunities for earlier, more accurate diagnosis and treatments. The talk was titled "Diagnostic and Therapeutic Solutions for Preeclampsia: The End of the Beginning.”