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Our Alumni Family
At the end of May, the class of 2013 joined the ranks of Weill Cornell alumni--a distinguished bunch stretching back to 1898, when the Medical College graduated its first batch of 67 physicians.
Our family of alumni is very engaged in supporting medical students. Throughout the year, the WCMC Alumni Association hosts a variety of educational and networking events, where alumni mentor and advise students and honor their academic achievements.
At Commencement, our Alumni Association presents an annual Award of Distinction to an alumnus/a who has demonstrated exceptional achievement in academic medicine, in the areas of education, research, or patient care, and who has brought honor and acclaim to the Medical College. The recipient is nominated and chosen by fellow alumni--surely a difficult task given the outstanding pool of Weill Cornell graduates from whom to choose.
This year's recipient is R. Gordon Douglas, Jr., a member of the class of 1959. Dr. Douglas has had an illustrious career in both academic medicine and industry. After graduating from Weill Cornell, he was a resident in internal medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and Johns Hopkins. He was a member of the faculty at the University of Rochester and Baylor College of Medicine, before returning to Weill Cornell to serve as Chair of the Department of Medicine from 1982-1990. He then became the president of Merck Vaccines, where he helped introduce vaccines for haemophilus B, hepatitis A and B, and chicken pox, among others. After retiring from Merck in 1999, he has served on the boards of several biotech companies focused on vaccine development. He remains a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Weill Cornell.
It was a pleasure and an honor to present a commemorative plaque to Dr. Douglas and have him march with us at Commencement. And as our newest alumni embark on their careers, I hope that they come back to visit us at Weill Cornell, where they will always have a home.
R. Gordon Douglas, Jr., MD '59
Posted June 13, 2013 1:08 PM | Permalink to this post
All Entries
June 13, 2013 - Our Alumni Family
May 31, 2013 - Video Message to the Class of 2013
May 29, 2013 - Practicing to Heal
May 21, 2013 - Graduation in Qatar
May 13, 2013 - From Discovery to Delivery
May 02, 2013 - This Is Your Brain
April 24, 2013 - The Belfer Research Building Grows on 69th Street
April 17, 2013 - Gender at Work
April 08, 2013 - Sequestration and Medical Research
March 28, 2013 - Musings from a Military Mom
March 21, 2013 - My Visit to Haiti, Part 2
March 13, 2013 - My Visit to Haiti, Part 1
March 06, 2013 - A New Prize--and Possibly a New Way to Advance Science
February 28, 2013 - Precision Medicine is the Future
February 21, 2013 - Team Medicine @ Weill Cornell
February 14, 2013 - Caring Across Generations
February 07, 2013 - Coming Soon: A New Partner Across the East River
January 24, 2013 - Weill Cornell's Stellar Faculty
January 16, 2013 - Health Care and the Economy
January 08, 2013 - New Communication and Information Technologies
December 20, 2012 - A Holiday Message
December 10, 2012 - Wearing the Weill Cornell Lab Coat
November 29, 2012 - A Milestone for Qatar
November 20, 2012 - Speeding the Translation of Biomedical Research
November 08, 2012 - Innovations to our Curriculum
October 31, 2012 - Improving Treatments for Cancer
October 16, 2012 - Not Enough Future Doctors
September 26, 2012 - New Child Care Center
September 06, 2012 - Voyage of Discovery: Message to the Class of 2016
May 30, 2012 - Video Message to the Class of 2012
