July 2026 EIPM Director's Memo
July 2, 2026
Dear Friends & Members of the Englander Institute,
I hope you enjoy this abbreviated edition of the EIPM Director's Memo. There was a lot of content in the previous edition that covered May and the first two weeks of June, but there is still plenty to read and enjoy here.
Thank you again for your continued hard work and dedication to our mission, and best wishes for a fun & relaxing holiday weekend!
Sincerely,
Olivier Elemento, Ph.D.
Rare Stem T Cells May Hold the Key to Fighting Chronic Diseases
July 2, 2026
T cells are an elite fighting force of the immune system, seeking out and destroying diseased cells. But in a prolonged campaign against a chronic condition — like a viral infection, or cancer — the body needs a steady supply of these killer troops. Where and how these killer troops are generated has been a mystery.
PSA Levels Alone May Not Reflect Prostate Cancer Growth
July 1, 2026
Patients with advanced prostate cancer may need periodic imaging scans to catch tumor growth even with stable levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein in the blood that doctors routinely monitor for cancer progression, according to an analysis led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Duke University. In some cases, cancer progression was detected on scans even when PSA levels were undetectable.
Dr. Eleni Andreopoulou earns an Honorary Professorship from the University of Ioannina Medical School in Greece
June 26, 2026
Congratulations to Cancer Therapeutics program and EIPM member Dr.
Dr. Silvia Formenti Earns Stanford University's Robert F. Kallman Award!
June 26, 2026
Dr. Silvia Formenti, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Sandra and Edward Meyer Professor of Cancer Research, was given the Robert F. Kallman Award by Stanford University. The award, and accompanying memorial lecture, is a prestigious honor in radiation oncology and biology presented by Stanford’s Department of Radiation Oncology. It recognizes outstanding scientific excellence, academic leadership and contributions to the profession.
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EIPM Scientist Receives Award for Research on New Ovarian Cancer Targets
June 16, 2026
Dr. Dan Landau, the Bibliowicz Family Professor of Medicine, and a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center and the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has received a Lotus Award from the Pershing Square Foundation for research aimed at uncovering new immunotherapy targets in ovarian cancer.
Dr. Pinkal Desai earns Siegel Faculty Development Award!
June 15, 2026
Weill Cornell Medicine faculty members were recently honored with awards for their exemplary achievements in medical research, education and care May 13-14 during Weill Cornell Medicine’s commencement activities.
Dr. Pinkal Desai, an Englnder Institute for Precision Medicine member, was awarded the Jeanne and Herbert Siegel Faculty Development Award. The prize recognizes an early-career faculty member for exemplary clinical and research contributions, as well as teaching and mentoring medical students.
Additional awards:
A breakthrough single-cell method for mapping DNA-protein interactions
June 14, 2026
A new technology allows scientists to map, in single cells, the DNA-binding sites of transcription factors and other regulatory proteins that control gene activity, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and the New York Genome Center.
With key advantages over methods currently in use, the technology is expected to be a powerful addition to biologists’ toolkit for studying cells in health and disease.
May 2026 EIPM Director's Monthly Memo
May 11, 2026
Dear Friends & Members of the Englander Institute,
Panel: AI to Advance Medicine--From Research to Practice
May 10, 2026
On April 28, EIPM Director Olivier Elemento, Ph.D. joined an all-star panel of Weill Cornell Medicine experts for “AI to Advance Medicine: From Research to Practice,” moderated by Fei Wang, Ph.D., the Associate Dean of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Weill Cornell.