News and Events

Every leadership journey is different, marked by pivotal life experiences, defining relationships, and personal values. Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and Provost for Medical Affairs at Cornell University, recently detailed his own path in academic medicine and research during a fireside chat for the Luminaries in Healthcare Leadership series.

The talk...

As Medicaid funding cuts enacted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are expected to reduce health coverage among adults, researchers and clinicians from Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and Ariadne Labs argue in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective, published Nov. 1, that children are at increasing risk of unintended downstream effects.

Investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell’s Ithaca campus have received a $5.1 million, three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Autism Data Science Initiative (ADSI) to launch the Autism Replication, Validation, and Reproducibility (AR²) Center. The center aims to improve the reliability of autism research and foster public trust in the field.

Dr. Rainu Kaushal, a distinguished health services researcher, information scientist and physician leader, has been named senior associate dean of health data science, effective immediately.

In this new role, Dr. Kaushal will help Weill Cornell Medicine harness data science opportunities in service of better patient outcomes. She will work across academic departments to develop the institution’s strategic vision for...

When cancer spreads from a primary tumor to new sites throughout the body, it undergoes changes that increase its genetic complexity.

A new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) provides fresh insights about how cancers evolve when they metastasize — insights that could aid in...

Credit: Shutterstock

A new artificial intelligence-based method accurately sorts cancer patients into groups that have similar characteristics before treatment and similar outcomes after treatment, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The new approach has the potential to enable better patient selection in clinical trials and better treatment selection for individual patients.

The ...

New findings suggest that suicide prevention approaches must be region- and population-specific, rather than applying the same intervention strategies across the United States. Credit: Shutterstock

Using machine learning technology, a new study has identified three distinct profiles describing social and economic factors that are associated with a higher risk of suicide. Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine...

The Weill Cornell Physician Organization has selected seven outstanding faculty for the Healthcare Leadership  Fellows  Program (2025-2026) to foster their development as leaders.  

Teams of health care providers called Accountable Care Organizations participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program have saved Medicare between $4.1 billion and $8.1 billion from 2012 through 2019, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The study, published April 28 in JAMA, is thought to be the first to investigate the long-term impact of the...

Pregnancy may offer some protection from developing Long COVID, found a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, University of Utah Health and Louisiana Public Health Institute. Previous research has mostly focused on non-pregnant adults affected by Long COVID—a condition lasting for months after a person recovers from a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The ...

Leveraging the power of AI and machine learning technologies, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine developed a more effective model for predicting how patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer will respond to chemotherapy. The model harnesses whole-slide tumor imaging and gene expression analyses in a way that outperforms previous models using a single data type.

The ...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers found that restricting telehealth prescriptions for opioid use disorder could keep thousands from accessing buprenorphine, a medication that helps people recover from addiction. The study, published March 3 in JAMA Network Open, warns that requiring...

Non-white communities had significantly less access to opioid medications commonly prescribed for moderate to severe pain than white communities over the decade beginning in 2011, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

The findings, published Jan. 21 in Pain, stretched across all socioeconomic groups, and suggest...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have found that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)—organizations that negotiate access to medicines for most patients in the United States—steer patients to use their own pharmacies. However, these pharmacies appear less used in Medicare than in other market segments. These PBMs are part of integrated health care conglomerates that own insurance companies and pharmacies, which may create conflicts of interest.

The ...

The Cornell Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program hosted a networking event for students, alumni, and industry professionals for a thought-provoking conversation on innovation in the health care space. Dr. Geraldine McGinty, senior associate dean for clinical affairs and professor of...

Weill Cornell Medicine and the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy have established the Cornell Health Policy Center (CHPC) to serve as the locus for health policy impact, research and training across Cornell.

The center connects health policy researchers across Cornell’s campuses to help shape effective health policy at the federal, state and local levels. It will focus on policies...

The possibility of parental disclosure through online patient portals led older adolescents to hesitate in sharing complete health information with doctors, putting them at risk of missed diagnoses and treatments, a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers found.

The ...

Removing protected class regulation from Medicare prescription drug policies could greatly reduce the United States' prescription drug spending—this could have saved potentially $47 billion between 2011-2019, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

The study, published Oct. 7 in Health Affairs,...

In a first-of-its-kind study, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers found that female physicians, primary care physicians, psychiatrists and physicians in non-rural areas delivered relatively higher proportions of visits via telehealth. This national analysis may provide key information for policymakers to consider as COVID-19 provisions for expanded Medicare telehealth coverage are set to expire at the end of this year.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have used machine learning to define three subtypes of Parkinson’s disease based on the pace at which the disease progresses. In addition to having the potential to become an important diagnostic and prognostic tool, these subtypes are marked by distinct driver genes. If validated, these markers could also suggest ways the subtypes can be targeted with new and existing drugs.

The ...

Dr. Hua "Judy" Zhong, an esteemed researcher and biostatistician, has been named chief of the Division of Biostatistics in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, effective July 29.  

Biostatistics is the application of statistical techniques for scientific research in health-related fields, including medicine, biology and public health. It also encompasses development of novel...

Short message service (SMS) text messaging is the most frequently used mobile health (mHealth) technology, given its accessibility to older and medically complex patients. Since over 80 percent of patients receiving dialysis own mobile phones, mHealth-based technologies could be a promising means of survey administration among these patients.

In a study in Kidney Medicine,...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare expanded telehealth coverage for audio-only telehealth visits. However, Medicare reimbursement for these visits will expire after December 2024. A research letter in JAMA Health Forum from ...

The Weill Cornell Physician Organization has selected six outstanding faculty for the Healthcare Leadership Fellows Program (2024-2025) to foster their development as leaders. 

Sponsored by the Michael J. Wolk Heart Foundation, the program was created in 2012 to address the growing need for physician leaders in a rapidly transforming health care industry. Over the last 13 years, 86 Weill Cornell Medicine faculty members have been selected as Fellows, with many taking on leadership...

In this systematic literature review published in Value in Health, CHERISH Research Affiliates Czarina Behrends and Ahmed Bayoumi, CHERISH staff members ...

Individuals with physical health concerns made up the largest and fastest growing of five subgroups of individuals who died by suicide in the United States over roughly twenty years, according to an analysis led by Weill Cornell Medicine in collaboration with Columbia University, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, the University of Hong Kong and University of Kentucky investigators.

The ...

Specialized nursing facility clinicians, or SNFists, may decrease the likelihood of nursing home residents experiencing stressful hospitalizations and improve the quality of life in their last days, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open on Mar. 15, examined how SNFists uniquely impacted the...

The Biostatistics Computing Club provides a platform for staff and faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) to learn and advance their computational skills, specifically in biostatistical analyses. The club is currently led by Anjile An, research biostatistician III, and Will Simmons, research biostatistician II, in the Department of Population Health Sciences.  

A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine has used an AI-based approach to uncover underlying patterns among the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, termed social determinants of health (SDoH), and then linked each pattern to children’s health outcomes. Compared with traditional approaches, the strategy, in principle, provides a more objective and comprehensive picture of potential social factors that affect child health, which in turn, can enable better...

Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) is investing in the future of population health by launching a new doctorate program to train the next generation of leading population health researchers. 

The Weill Cornell PhD in Population Health Sciences will prepare students to investigate the behavioral and social determinants of health, in addition to biological determinants, through the measurement, design, and evaluation of research...

While there are highly effective treatments for the hepatitis C virus (HCV), only 1 in 5 Medicaid enrollees diagnosed with HCV started treatment, according to a retrospective study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University’s Ithaca campus. The findings revealed that treatment uptake rates were even lower among people under 30, women, Hispanic and Asian individuals, as well as people who inject drugs. The research underscores the urgent need for public health and...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. hospitals had overcapacity intensive care units (ICU) while other area hospitals had open ICU beds available, a phenomenon known as “load imbalance.” The hospitals most likely to be overloaded in imbalanced regions served a higher number of Black patients and more patients enrolled in Medicaid, according to a new study conducted by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

In the ...

Using an innovative method for measuring doctor turnover, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers determined that between 2010 and 2018, the annual rate at which physicians left their practices increased by 43 percent, from 5.3 percent to 7.6 percent a year.  The causes of this trend are not known, but warrant further investigation, according to the researchers.

The study, published July 11 in the Annals of...

A comprehensive understanding of financial structures and problem-solving strategies is integral for healthcare professionals seeking to drive innovation in a rapidly evolving industry. The Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program offers a range of courses addressing financial competencies taught by esteemed experts. Recently, the program hosted a prospective student reception with one of these faculty members, Dr....

A model for optimizing the dispensing of vaccines during pandemics that uses a new measure of success for such efforts has been developed by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, the Ithaca campus of Cornell University, Singapore University of Technology and Design and San Jose State University in California. The new model expands the concept of vaccine coverage to include 'vaccinated person-days' (VPDs), which prioritizes both the number of people vaccinated and the speed of getting shots...

Prospective students gained valuable insights into the unique experience of female executives at a special panel hosted by Cornell’s Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program and Executive MBA Metro NY program. Alumnae and current students from both programs shared their journeys in navigating an executive master’s program and its lasting impact on their careers and professional networks.

The panel was moderated by...

The Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program boasts an incredible faculty that includes both top academics and leading industry practictioners, teaching practical and theoretical frameworks that transition seamlessly from the classroom to the boardroom.

Recently, prospective and current students were invited to a special reception with one of the newest faculty additions to the program, Stephen M. Cohen, former...

Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) is proud to announce the launch of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence for Digital Health (AIDH).

The institute will focus on developing groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to build research-ready data and derive crucial insights for advancing evidence-based patient care.

Black and Hispanic patients were more likely than white patients to develop a wide array of lasting symptoms and conditions after a COVID-19 diagnosis, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.

The study, published in the Journal of General Medicine on...

The post-COVID syndrome known as long COVID has four major subtypes defined by different clusters of symptoms, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The study, published Dec. 1 in Nature Medicine, was the largest of its kind to examine long COVID. The researchers, who represent clinicians and informaticists, used a machine-learning algorithm to spot...

Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative, through the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of NIH. To address the overdose crisis in the United States, NIH has established a research network that will test harm reduction strategies in different community settings to inform efforts to help save lives...

A Medicare system that is meant to assess and incentivize healthcare quality with pay adjustments may not be working as intended, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

In the study, published Dec. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the researchers analyzed data on more than 80,000 primary care physicians enrolled in...

The Medicaid program allocates nearly $20 billion a year in subsidies to support safety-net hospitals and other health care providers that serve low-income patients. While most of the subsidies are well-targeted — going, as intended, to facilities that disproportionately care for low-income and uninsured patients — potentially up to one-third are not, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine and University of Pennsylvania investigators.

The ...

In August 2020, four months after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in New York State, Dr. Dave A. Chokshi was appointed as the 43rd Health Commissioner of the City of New York. A primary care physician and public health expert who had served the state of Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina and on the FEMA delegation for Superstorm Sandy, he became a pivotal figure in the city’s response to the pandemic.

Reflecting on his unique experience during one of the largest health emergencies in...

By linking a national vascular registry with medical data records in Medicare claims for patients who underwent endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, a team of researchers from across the country were able to identify which devices posed the most risk for reintervention.

The study, published Oct. 25 in BMJ, is the first to use linked registry claims data for long-term device-...

Anthrax is a bacterial toxin-mediated zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis. It has been recognized for millennia and is considered a potential biowarfare agent. In a new Clinical Infectious Diseases study, Dr. Nathaniel Hupert and colleagues conduct a systematic review of English language anthrax case reports from the past 135+...

Two Population Health Sciences faculty are among the 51 recipients of the Amazon Research Awards. Dr. Yifan Peng, assistant professor of population health sciences, and Dr. Fei Wang, associate professor of population health sciences, will be funded under the fall 2021 applied machine learning call for proposals.

Dr. Peng will collaborate with...

There has been a rise in demand for behavioral health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a new JAMA Network research letter, investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analyzed trends in behavioral health employment before and after the pandemic using the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data.

The study revealed employment in intensive...

On March 15, 2019, Vessel opened to the public as a prominent feature of the new Hudson Yards Public Square. Unfortunately, the popular tourist attraction, designed for both climbing and sightseeing, soon gained notoriety for a different reason when it became the site of four suicides in less than two years. Shortly after the first incident, conversations relating to suicide-related activity at Vessel began appearing on Twitter. In a new ...

Researchers are seeking to use deep learning methods to diagnose primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), one of the leading causes of blindness. In a new study published in Scientific Reports, senior author Dr. Yifan Peng, assistant professor of population health sciences, and colleagues present an automated classification algorithm named...

Compared to the general population, individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are involved with the criminal-legal system have a much higher risk of a fatal overdose after release from incarceration. Yet, stigma, costs, and preferences for non-narcotic treatments in criminal-legal settings have stalled the implementation of life-saving treatment within the criminal-legal system.

Extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX), methadone, and buprenorphine-naloxone are three widely studied...

Medical images are common diagnostic and prognostic tools in patient care. In clinical practice, manual examination of these images is labor-intensive and prone to error. Technology including convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown performance at or above the human specialist level on a series of medical image diagnosis tasks. However, CNNs are vulnerable to “noise” (irrelevant or corrupted discriminative information) that is undetectable to humans, posing significant security risks...

Researchers have acknowledged the global health inequities between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which can be attributed to colonialism, racism, sexism, and capitalism. In a viewpoint published in Annals of Global Health, Dr. Madelon Finkel, professor of clinical population health sciences at Weill...

The COVID-19 pandemic has diverted health care resources from the management of chronic disease toward acute care. There are potential long-term outcomes of this shift, especially for disadvantaged groups including the incarcerated. In a new research letter published in JAMA Health Forum, Dr. William Schpero, assistant professor of population...

Assertion classification is the task of classifying the assertion status of clinical concepts expressed in natural languages, such as a diagnosis or condition being present, absent, or possible. This is important for healthcare professionals to quickly understand crucial clinical information in unstructured notes. However, recent rule-based and machine-learning approaches suffer from labor-intensive pattern engineering and severe class bias toward majority classes. In a new...

A Weill Cornell Medicine-led database of more than 15 million patients has received close to $8 million in renewed funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to expand the database and its use for health research for the next three years.

The INSIGHT Clinical Research Network is a collection of...

Professional ethics require physicians to put their patients’ interests ahead of their own and allocate limited medical resources efficiently. Insight into physicians’ adherence to these principles requires an understanding of the trade-offs between self and other (altruism) and between reducing differences in payoffs (equality) and increasing total payoffs (efficiency). In a new PNAS study, Drs....

Increased prevalence of illicit substance use during pregnancy in the past decade has renewed national attention to prenatal substance use policies (PSUPs).

Currently, there are punitive policies that criminalize drug use during pregnancy or define prenatal substance use as child maltreatment in child welfare statutes. If newborns are found to have prenatal exposure to substances or are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, these states may charge the pregnant person...

A recent Pfizer or Moderna mRNA-vaccine booster provided good but temporary protection against infection by the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar.

In the study, published June 15 in the New England...

 The Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Legacy Fellowship concluded its inaugural program with a Resilience Building in Healthcare Settings Workshop for students and alumni of the Cornell Executive MBA/MS Program in Health Leadership. Developed by the program’s inaugural fellow Madalina Sucala (MBA, MS ’22), the event focused on mental health support for healthcare workers.

This May, the Department of Population Health Sciences joins the nation in celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Observed for the entire month since 1992, May is a time to reflect on the unique life experiences of all members of the AAPI community and acknowledge their significant contributions to the country. This year’s theme is “Advancing Leaders Through Collaboration.” Join us in getting to...

Although there is much variation in the prices commercial insurers pay physicians, it has been unclear if higher prices are associated with higher quality of care. Dr. Amelia Bond, assistant professor of population health sciences, and colleagues examined this association in a new study published in The...

State punitive policies criminalize prenatal substance use or define it as child maltreatment, sometimes leading to child welfare system involvement soon after childbirth. However, supportive prenatal policies provide pregnant women with priority access to substance use disorder treatment programs, improving well-being for both mothers and infants. In a new Health Affairs study,...

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed vast disparities in how the virus impacted people of color, with inequalities in exposure and treatment that persist two years later, said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett in her Population Health Sciences Grand Rounds address, hosted virtually on April 20 by Weill Cornell Medicine.

“COVID made racism visible and pulled back the curtain on issues we’ve confronted as a nation not just over...

While there have been increasing discussions about physician burnout over the past decade, little research has been done on the association of burnout and quality and costs of care. Some physicians who experience burnout report making more errors and feeling less responsibility to control healthcare costs, among other outcomes. In a new Health Affairs study,...

New York City (NYC) enacted strict lockdowns and school closures at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 to lower transmission rates across populations. However, that impact may have been different across neighborhoods. In a new PLOS One study, Weill Cornell Medicine’s Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, associate professor of...

Dr. Rainu Kaushal, senior associate dean for clinical research and chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences, is spearheading a multimillion-dollar PCORnet study of post-acute sequelae of SARS-Cov-2 (PASC) infection, often referred to as “long-haul COVID.” Dr. Kaushal, who is also the principal investigator for INSIGHT Clinical Research Network (CRN), was selected as one of three leaders of the Electronic Health...

Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a $9.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to lead a consortium of health care institutions that are analyzing nationwide health data in an effort to unravel the complexities of long COVID. 

“We need it to be able to answer important questions about this new condition,” said principal investigator ...

Dr. Ruth Masterson Creber, associate professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), has received a R21 grant to improve maternal health outcomes and support population surveillance in western Myanmar through the use of mobile health (mHealth) technology. This research is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Fogarty International...

Improving medication adherence is a potential avenue to reducing preventable utilization and spending among Medicare patients. However, the association between nonadherence to chronic medications and potentially preventable healthcare utilization and spending has been largely unknown by the medical community. In a new Journal of General Internal Medicine study,...

While the world has celebrated the arrival of highly effective vaccines against COVID-19, new work by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Oxford shows that even unrelated vaccines could help reduce the burden of the pandemic. The study, published Jan. 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, crystallizes decades of evidence...

Patients with kidney failure on dialysis suffer from high rates of hospitalization and mortality associated with COVID-19. However, one in five patients receiving in-center hemodialysis are vaccine hesitant. In a Kidney International Reports study, Sri Lekha Tummalapalli, MD, MBA, assistant professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell...

Cornell’s Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program is one of a kind among the Ivy League. Graduates of the dual-degree program earn credentials from both Weill Cornell Medicine and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of...

In the spring of 2020, the Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership class of 2021 lost a beloved member with the passing of Dr. Lorna Breen. She was a talented physician who served as the emergency department director at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

When New York City hospitals and health systems were overwhelmed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Breen fought for...

The M.S. in Healthcare Policy and Research program offers students the opportunity to complete a capstone project, providing a deeper foundation for the next stages of their careers. This experience helps students discover and develop new and effective ways of working with stakeholders within the healthcare...

As more states legalize cannabis (now 37) for medical or recreational purposes its use during pregnancy is increasing, along with the potential for abuse or dependence. 

A new ...

While social determinants of health (SDoH) impact patient risks and clinical outcomes, this nonclinical information is typically locked in unstructured clinical notes. However, leveraging SDoH has the potential to improve diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient outcomes across populations.

In a new study in the Journal of Health Economics, Angelica Meinhofer, PhD, assistant professor of population health sciences, and colleagues sought to understand the effect of marijuana liberalization policies on perinatal health. Using a multiperiod difference-in-differences estimator that exploited variation in effective dates...

Scientists have learned much about physical interventions, non-pharmaceutical interventions, and vaccination success throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, therapeutic interventions have not been very effective, and successful antiviral drugs have not been introduced at scale. In a new perspective piece in BMC Molecular Medicine, ...

When biosimilars (generic alternatives to biologic drugs) were first introduced, their increase in market share was predicted to decrease total Medicare spending. In a new JAMA Network Open study, Amelia Bond, PhD, MS, MHS, assistant professor of population health sciences; Phyllis Johnson, MBA, programmer analyst for population health sciences; and University of Miami...

Until now, researchers have not completely understood the association between overcrowded and multigenerational households in New York City and the risk of spreading COVID-19. Nathaniel Hupert, MD, MPH, associate professor of population health sciences; Said Ibrahim, MD, MBA, MPH, professor of population health sciences at the time of the study; Anjile An, MPH, programmer analyst for population health sciences; and colleagues...

COVID-19 affected different populations across New York City at varying rates, due to numerous conditions. Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, associate professor of population health sciences; Dr. Said Ibrahim, professor of population health sciences; and colleagues sought to better understand the association between overcrowded and multigenerational households and COVID-19...

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, few studies have examined how clinical outcomes differ by socioeconomic conditions among infected patients. In a new PLOS ONE study, Dr. Yongkang Zhang, research associate in population health sciences; Dr. Dhruv Khullar, assistant...

Dr. Dhruv Khullar, assistant professor of population health sciences, shares his perspective on healthcare in the United States and globally as a contributing author at The New Yorker. In his latest article, “...

COVID-19 is a heterogenous disease that continues to evolve. As the world faces new waves of the pandemic, unique populations are not responding to the virus in the same way. These differences in biological host responses of infected individuals have been difficult for scientists to fully understand. To help inform effective patient management and public health policy making, Dr. Fei Wang,...

In recent years, state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) have grown more widespread while previously used long-term opioid therapies have been discontinued. A question stemming from this related to the association of levels of robustness across PDMPs and how abruptly long-term opioid therapies were discontinued. Dr. Yuhua Bao, associate professor of population health sciences;...

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) have been crucial tools to address unsafe opioid prescribing. High rates of prescribing stoked the flames of the opioid crisis in the early 2000s, but opioid prescriptions have steadily decreased over the past decade. Unfortunately, opioid-related deaths have...

Although there is wide geographic variation in Medicare per beneficiary spending in the U.S., little research has been done about the extent to which social determinants of health (SDoH) are associated with this variation. In a study published in JAMA Network Open, a research team from the Division of Health...

In a new study published in Epilepsy & Behavior, Dr. Zachary Grinspan, associate professor of population health sciences, and colleagues researched how often and why clinicians counsel people with epilepsy about sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). To help understand the gaps in counseling, the researchers looked at clinical notes...

A new federal mandate that requires Medicaid to cover clinical trial costs is an important step to increase racial and ethnic minority participation in research and improve access for low-income patients to advanced treatments, according to a new commentary co-authored by Weill Cornell Medicine health economist ...

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), a major value-based purchasing program that influences payment for more than one million clinicians annually, came into effect in 2017. In a new study published in JAMA Health Forum, Dr. Dhruv Khullar, assistant professor of population...

One in six Medicare beneficiaries receives hospice care from a private equity firm or a publicly traded corporation, according to a new publication from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Vanderbilt University. The rampant growth in hospice agency acquisitions across the country has prompted increased scrutiny into the deals’ impact on quality of care.

Nearly 20 percent of U.S. adults experienced mental illness in 2018, and nearly 20 percent of those with mental illness experienced a co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD). To help inform policy during the ongoing addiction crisis, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers examined how opioid use disorder (OUD) impacts healthcare utilization relative to other SUDs. Dr. Jyotishman Pathak, professor of population health sciences;...

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced many well-quantified epidemics across the United States and the world. Comparing localized epidemic outcomes can help researchers understand both the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions and the risk assessment across varying geographic levels. In a new medRxiv paper, Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, associate professor...

Among other specialties, dermatology practices have increasingly been acquired by private equity firms. Dr. Robert Tyler Braun, instructor of population health sciences; Dr. Amelia Bond, assistant professor of population health sciences; Dr. Lawrence Casalino, professor of population health...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly used in healthcare, from detecting atrial fibrillation to predicting in-hospital mortality, and much more. However, with over 60 AI-based algorithms and medical devices now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and regulatory policies that are still evolving, there are questions about who should be held liable for medical errors resulting in care delivered jointly by physicians and AI. In a new Journal of the American...

Historically, men have held a larger percentage of available leadership roles than women and have earned more than their female counterparts in these positions. According to Statista, there were only 36 female CEOs across American Fortune 500 companies in September of 2020 — just over 7% of...

Medicare’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) came into effect in 2017. To understand physician practice leaders’ perception of the major value-based purchasing program (including the program’s effect on patient care, administrative burden, and rationale for participation), members of the Division of Health Policy and Economics and a colleague completed a new Journal of General...

The Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model was designed to reduce healthcare expenditures for joint replacement and improve the quality of joint replacement care. Hospitals pay a penalty if expenditures during care episodes exceed a quality-adjusted spending limit, but they receive a bonus if expenditures are lower than the limit. In a new original investigation published in JAMA...

The development of multiple COVID-19 vaccines already approved for use is an incredible accomplishment for the scientific community. Now, ensuring each vaccine dose is efficiently administered to the global population is just as important. In a new opinion piece published in STAT, Dr. Nathaniel Hupert...

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed shortcomings of the U.S. healthcare system and provided an opportunity to rethink low-value services. Dr. Dhruv Khullar, assistant professor of population health sciences, and colleagues examined how financial and non-financial incentives, uncertainty in clinical decision-making and insufficient partnering with patients and families contribute to the delivery of low-value care in a new...

While global vaccination is the most effective way to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, high-income countries (HICs) like the U.S. have already experienced major delays in distribution. In an editorial for BMJ Global Health, Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, associate professor of population health sciences and co-director of the...

In a new research letter published in JAMA Network Open, Dr. Arian Jung, assistant professor of population health sciences, and colleagues examined nursing homes in communities with the highest COVID-19 prevalence. Their goal was to identify characteristics associated with resident infection rates. With a cross-sectional analysis...

This Women’s History Month, we are proud to highlight the Department of Population Sciences’ many outstanding women and their vital contributions to Weill Cornell Medicine and beyond.

Each woman brings a unique perspective to their role, helping create a more inclusive and robust department. From young professionals getting started in their careers to established researchers who are balancing family and professional lives, we admire them all. They are celebrated for their individual...

Pursuing an advanced degree gives students the opportunity to add a higher level of expertise to their resumé, but gaining real-world experience during the program is what sets Weill Cornell Medicine graduates apart. The biostatistics and data science track...

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent acts of violence perpetrated against communities of color have highlighted many health disparities systemically ingrained in different communities across the United States.

Dr. Said Ibrahim, senior associate dean of diversity and inclusion at Weill Cornell Medicine and chief of the Division of Healthcare Delivery Science...

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced many challenges to American hospitals, including the economic difficulties tied to reductions in elective and nonemergent care and increased investments in resources and infrastructure. In a new ACP Hospitalist article, Drs. Amelia Bond,...

Healthcare systems around the world have innovatively adjusted to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, healthcare curriculum has grown to ensure students are well-equipped to enter the workforce under this “new norm.” On top of that, MS in Healthcare Policy and Research students at Weill Cornell Medicine are completing capstone projects that bring them closer to what’s happening in the field before graduation. ...

While telehealth is not novel, its use has recently grown rapidly as healthcare restrictions were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine the state of telehealth education at MD-granting medical schools in the United States, Dr. Dhruv Khullar and Dr. Jiani Yu, both assistant professors of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, and...

As the United States continues to respond to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, students of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Master of Science in Healthcare Policy and Research program are studying its effect on people with opioid use disorders (OUD). It may not be what they could have predicted a year ago, but the work is another piece of real-world experience that will help them achieve...

Cornell’s Executive MBA/MS in Healthcare Leadership program is the only one of its kind in the Ivy League, with students earning two prestigious degrees from Cornell University. That is one reason why the program consistently produces graduates who become powerhouses in the industry. In an illuminating conversation with three program alumnae on January 26, 2021, current and prospective students gained...

Spending on biologic medicines increased by over 50 percent between 2014 and 2018 and continues to account for an increased share of drug spending in the United States. Because biosimilars are highly similar versions of complex biologic drugs, they have the potential to slow drug spending. In a new cross-sectional study of Medicare recipients, Dr....

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact much of the world, but low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the highest burden of cases and deaths. Dr. Madelon Finkel, professor of clinical population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, and colleagues are working on a multi-pronged approach to empower rural communities to adopt prevention strategies. Their Asian Journal of Medicine and Health...

Knee pain is a common reason for seeking medical attention, with nearly one in every three Americans affected by arthritis or musculoskeletal disease. Further, the burden of osteoarthritis (OA) is expected to increase as the population ages. However, arthritis-related activity and work limitations and severe pain disproportionately impact Black patients compared to white patients. In a new Nature Medicine article, Dr....

A learning health care system (LHS) could be an unprecedented opportunity to unlock insights that can inform continuous health care improvements for epilepsy patients. A paper on this topic by Zachary Grinspan, MD, MS, associate professor of population health sciences and pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, and colleagues was recently selected for...

Immunologists play a central role in translating basic science into effective response strategies, helping communities and individuals to anticipate, detect, respond to, and recover from the impact of health emergencies, hazards, events or conditions. This has become especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a new Trends in Immunology paper, ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated an already existing issue within healthcare systems – employee burnout and the stigmas around seeking mental healthcare. Healthcare providers face demanding work hours, physical exhaustion and emotional stress while being expected to provide quality care each day. Many providers suffer in silence while bearing fears of professional stigma and the required discloser of mental health assistance to licensing boards and healthcare institutions.

The co-...

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way individuals access the healthcare system. For example, recent studies suggest high-risk populations may be foregoing necessary care out of fear of entering healthcare facilities and contracting the virus. A new study by Sean Murphy, PhD, associate professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine and...

According to a new study, the total annual cost of opioid use disorder (OUD) to U.S. society in 2018 was $786.8 billion. This figure includes costs associated with excess healthcare expenditures, criminal justice resources, lost workplace and home productivity, and premature mortality. Of the $786.8 billion, $89.1 billion was attributed to additional healthcare expenditures. The study was conducted by...

To understand how American private equity-owned (PE) nursing homes performed during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other nursing homes, Mark Unruh, Ph.D., senior author and associate professor of population health sciences, and Robert Tyler Braun, Ph.D., first author and instructor of population health sciences, worked with colleagues from the...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 8 women experience symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD) nationally. However, there is a lack of tools that can predict PPD. In a new Journal of Affective Disorders study, Weill Cornell Medicine’s...

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, growing evidence has shown the virus’ disproportionate effect on people from racial/ethnic minority and low socioeconomic status (SES) groups, all while physicians have changed practice patterns. In a new study published in RMD Open, Said Ibrahim, MD, MPH, MBA, and colleagues from Weill Cornell Medicine and Hospital for...

In a new JAMA Network Open article, Said Ibrahim, MD, MPH, MBA, and colleagues researched if joint replacement care changed for White, Black, and Hispanic patients under Medicare’s Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model. Using 100% Medicare claims from 2013 to 2017 and a cohort of 688,346 patients, they found that CRJ was...

In a new Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness article, Nathaniel Hupert, MD, MPH, associate professor of population health sciences, and colleagues review models that project both caseload and hospital capacity requirements over time during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers selected six models that met pre-...

In a new Journal of General Internal Medicine article, Mark Unruh, Ph.D., assistant professor of population health sciences;...

In a new Journal of General Internal Medicine study, researchers explore how physicians spend their work time through an ecological momentary assessment (EMA). In recent years, concerns about the amount of time physicians spend on electronic health records (EHRs) has heightened interest in how physicians spend their time overall. Yet, there is relatively...

Dr. Rainu Kaushal, a distinguished health services researcher, information scientist and healthcare leader, has been appointed senior associate dean for clinical research at Weill Cornell Medicine. She will head the Office of the Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research, managing the growth and expansion of clinical research across the institution.  

Dr. Kaushal will lead Weill Cornell...

In a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers from the Department of Population Health Sciences identified patients with persistent preventable utilization to compare their characteristics with high-cost patients. Together, Rainu Kaushal, MD, MPH, senior associate dean for clinical research, chair of the...

In a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, Said Ibrahim, MD, MPH, MBA, professor of population health sciences, and colleagues from Weill Cornell Medicine and Hospital for Special Surgery researched how rheumatologists prescribed hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ) to...

Madelon Finkel, PhD, professor of population health sciences and director of the Office of Global Health Education at Weill Cornell Medical College, is set to virtually present at the QS Subject Focus Summit - Medicine, with the theme of “The Future of Medicine: Challenges and Opportunities in the Disruptive Era.” The summit is hosted by Chulalongkorn University Medical...

Visual analogies have shown to be more successful than graphs in helping patients comprehend patient-reported outcomes (PRO) according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

In recent years, the use of PROs has grown increasingly popular due to their effectiveness in informing clinicians, researchers, and policymakers about patients’ quality of life, treatment satisfaction, and disease perception. Patients, too, have benefited as PROs are critical for self-...

In a new article published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, Mark Unruh, PhD, assistant professor of population health sciences; Hyunkyung Yun, Master of Science in population health sciences student; Yongkang Zhang, PhD, research associate in population health...

NEW YORK (July 22, 2020)—Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian have realigned the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research to address the intersection of research and practice. The newly named Department of Population Health Sciences, led by distinguished health services researcher, information scientist and leader ...

U.S. education leaders can draw from strategies used in countries that have considered COVID-19 in their school re-opening plans.

With cases of COVID-19 spiking in many areas of the United States, and a greater resurgence expected in the fall, whether and how to reopen schools is the subject of strong national interest. In an article ...

In a new article published in Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, Dr. Said Ibrahim, MD, professor of population health sciences, and colleagues from Weill Cornell Medicine and Hospital for Special Surgery surveyed national rheumatologists to analyze geographical variations in COVID-19 perceptions and patient management among rheumatic...

In a new article in JAMA Network, Dr. Said Ibrahim, MD, professor of population health sciences, comments on a study regarding high-risk patients in the US Veterans Affairs (VA) health system. Dr. Ibrahim notes that the VA is uniquely prepared to lead innovative applications of data for care management, due to the size of its network and ability to allow for large-scale analysis and modeling to predict care needs...

A new JAMA Health Forum article considers the reopening of U.S. schools in the era of COVID-19. Dr. Rainu Kaushal, MD, MPH, senior associate dean for clinical research and Nanette Laitman Distinguished Professor and chair of population health sciences, joined Dr. Erika L. Abramson,...