With a generous gift of $3 million, the family of Dr. Arleen Rifkind has established an endowed professorship at Weill Cornell Medicine in her memory.
Dr. Miklos Toth, a distinguished neuropharmacologist, has been appointed the first Arleen B. Rifkind, M.D. Professor in the Department of Pharmacology.
“I’m so grateful to the family of Arleen Rifkind for recognizing my work of the past three decades,” says Dr. Toth, who also credits his team of researchers with helping advance the field of neuropharmacology. The Toth Lab is dedicated to studying environmental factors that can have an adverse impact on DNA, with the goal of developing targeted treatments for disorders that affect the brain.
“Although Dr. Rifkind specialized in metabolism and I focus on the brain, she always took a great interest in my research into the mechanisms of disease,’’ adds Dr. Toth. The two had frequent conversations about their research, he says, noting that Dr. Rifkind had a particular interest in neurons and the potential implications of his lab’s scientific discoveries.
During her 38 years as a professor of pharmacology, Dr. Rifkind’s laboratory focused on the metabolism of toxic chemicals, primarily dioxins. During her career, Dr. Rifkind published more than 80 journal articles, served as chair of a National Institutes of Health toxicology study section, and was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She also served as chair of Weill Cornell Medicine’s General Faculty Council and received an award from the institution for excellence in teaching. Dr. Rifkind joined the faculty in 1971; she died in 2021.
“Dr. Rifkind was intellectually curious about so many aspects of pharmacology and toxicology, she had an outstanding research career, she was a staunch supporter of women faculty members, and she possessed a strong moral compass,’’ says Dr. Lorraine Gudas, chair of the Department of Pharmacology.
She believes that Dr. Toth shares many of Dr. Rifkind’s outstanding qualities. “He is attempting to find new treatments for complex neuropsychiatric disorders, which requires the same type of inquisitiveness about the human brain and human disease; he performs difficult and high-quality pharmacology research; and he is a person of integrity and honor,’’ says Dr. Gudas, who is also the Revlon Pharmaceutical Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and a professor of pharmacology in urology and in medicine.
Dr. Rifkind’s husband, Robert, and their daughters, Amy and Nina, wanted to memorialize Dr. Rifkind’s many contributions to science and to Weill Cornell Medicine by endowing a professorship in her name.
“Arleen prized the opportunity she enjoyed at Weill Cornell Medicine to run her research laboratory as it explored some of the mysteries of cellular biology, to teach up-and-coming generations of physicians and scientists, and to share the companionship of bright and collegial colleagues,’’ says Mr. Rifkind.
With the establishment of the endowed professorship, the Rifkind family also aimed to address some of Dr. Rifkind’s key concerns.
“She believed that basic research – the pursuit of knowledge for which there is no obvious prospect of commercialization, at least in the near term – is both critically important and tends to be underfunded. She was concerned that undue dependence on commercial enterprises gives rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest that cannot be avoided by mere disclosure. And she was keen to see that the contributions of women in science not be undervalued,” Mr. Rifkind adds. “We take great pleasure from the thought that, for generations to come, the sort of research and teaching that meant so much to Arleen will be carried on at Weill Cornell Medicine by the Arleen B. Rifkind, M.D. Professor.”
