About the Department of Molecular Medicine

The Department of Molecular Medicine was created on July 1, 1998, from the merging of the Department of Pharmacology and members of the Cancer Cell Biology group of the Department of Pathology. The Department of Pharmacology was created in 1980 and is housed in well-equipped facilities in a the newly built Veterinary Medical Center at the College of Veterinary Medicine on the Ithaca campus of Cornell University. Internationally recognized scientists have been recruited as faculty to the department. Many of these have received national attention through their research and by awards such as the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the NIH Physician Scientist's Award, the Pew Scholarship in the Biomedical Sciences, and the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research Award.

Major research is in progress to elucidate the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in receptor and ion channel function, signal transduction, neurotransmission, stimulus-secretion coupling and cancer cell biology. Research in clinical pharmacology is conducted with the goal of optimizing therapy in the multiple mammalian and nonmammalian species encountered in veterinary medicine. Research also emphasizes the molecular and cellular bases of diseases such as allergies, cancer, diabetes, diarrhea, epilepsy and myasthenia gravis. Grants for these projects are funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Foundation, Pew Trust, Kimmel Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, Cornell Biotechnology Program and by Cornell Alumni. Research funding for the Department of Pharmacology totals more than two million dollars a year.

In addition, we have a training grant in Biophysical and Biochemical Pharmacology from the National Institutes of Health Pharmacological Sciences Program which supports six pre-doctoral students. Other students in pharmacology are supported through faculty research grants, predoctoral fellowships and other National Institutes of Health training programs.

The Department of Molecular Medicine has close links with other basic science programs at Cornell. Members of the department collaborate with faculty and colleagues in other departments including Neurobiology and Behavior, Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology, Pathology, Physiology, Chemistry, and the Schools of Applied and Engineering Physics and Chemical Engineering. Several of these faculty are also involved in the Pharmacology Training Program and these collaborations allow graduate students to expand their research horizons beyond those immediately available within the department.

Cornell is an internationally renowned university consisting of thirteen colleges. Overall enrollment is almost nineteen thousand which includes forty-five hundred students in the Graduate School. Founded in 1865, Cornell is the youngest member of the Ivy League and is New York State's Land Grant Institution. Cornell Faculty Members are leaders in their fields and many have been honored as Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and members of the National Academy of Sciences.

Most of the colleges in the university are in Ithaca, New York, in the southern part of the Finger Lakes region. The Medical College is in New York City. The population of the city and town of Ithaca, including students, is about 45,000. The city is well served by air and ground transportation.

For recreation, the Ithaca and Cornell communities offer a wide range of social and cultural opportunities. From sailing on Cayuga lake to performing in a local theater or participating in local sporting activities, the area offers attractive choices for everyone.