This is an extraordinary time within academic medicine. There are so many opportunities to strengthen our healthcare systems, address inequities in care, and promote the health of patients and populations.
Whether we’re at a patient’s bedside or in a lab, classroom, office, or remote workspace, we are united in our efforts to advance knowledge, improve healthcare, and support each other while doing it.
We have accomplished so much during the challenging months of the pandemic – each of us individually, as well as collectively as a community. I am so grateful for your efforts and your dedication to Weill Cornell Medicine, which keep us advancing in our mission to care, discover and teach.
There is no way to know what the months ahead have in store, but our students, faculty, and staff are adapting and rising to new challenges, day in and day out.
This is a time of transition for all members of our community, as we start to imagine life after the pandemic. We have come a long way since the word “coronavirus” first entered our common vocabulary, and we should feel a sense of pride and optimism about where we are now.
We at Weill Cornell Medicine have a responsibility as leaders in academic medicine to demonstrate what it looks like to confront inequality with self-awareness and transparency, and commit to the uplift and wellbeing of all.
It’s been just over a year since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in New York City. Although that specific day—March 1, 2020—may not carry the same significance for all of us, I’m sure that each of you recalls the moments when you realized that life was being rapidly and completely transformed by the coronavirus.
This decade certainly started out differently than we all predicted. Like many of you, I’m looking forward to the start of a new year and am eager to have 2020 in the rearview mirror.
