With a new gift of $2 million, Board of Fellows member Igor Tulchinsky is generously supporting strategic needs at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Mr. Tulchinsky has long championed research initiatives at Weill Cornell Medicine that utilize predictive tools and quantitative methods to deepen the understanding of genetic factors that drive disease.
“Mr. Tulchinsky has demonstrated a fierce commitment to our mission, through impactful contributions that have the potential to improve lives on a global scale. We are profoundly grateful for his ongoing support.” Dean Augustine M.K. Choi
Through both the WorldQuant Foundation and his company, WorldQuant, he has supported numerous institutional programs that foster expansion of Weill Cornell Medicine’s medical, computational and research capabilities.
WorldQuant, a global quantitative asset management firm founded by Mr. Tulchinsky, who is also its chair and CEO, develops and deploys systematic investment strategies across a variety of asset classes in global markets, utilizing a proprietary research platform and investment process. He has often pointed to overlaps in the fields of quantitative finance and medical genomics, with prediction a common denominator for both.
“Support for cutting-edge research initiatives can make a meaningful difference for society, including human health,” says Mr. Tulchinsky. “Through several years of partnership, I have admired Weill Cornell Medicine’s dedication to its mission, and to its focus to advance leading research in the medical field.”
“From the start of his relationship with Weill Cornell Medicine, Mr. Tulchinsky has demonstrated a fierce commitment to our mission through impactful contributions that have the potential to improve lives on a global scale. We are profoundly grateful for his ongoing support,’’ says Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean. The gift will be used for priority strategic initiatives at the Dean’s discretion.
In 2014, the WorldQuant Foundation established a Research Scholar Award (RSA) at Weill Cornell Medicine. RSAs are designed to provide endowed funding to outstanding scientists who are building independent research programs. The inaugural WorldQuant Research Scholar Award in Physiology and Biophysics was granted to Dr. Christopher Mason, professor of physiology and biophysics, professor of computational genomics in computational biomedicine, and associate professor of neuroscience.
Three years later, Mr. Tulchinsky made a gift of $5 million through WorldQuant to establish the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction (WQIQP) at Weill Cornell Medicine, a biomedical research initiative that functions in collaboration with scientists and physician investigators at the Caryl and Israel Englander Institute for Precision Medicine and the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center.
The initiative expands current strategies used in precision medicine by combining state-of-the-art molecular profiling technologies with advanced financial algorithms and computational methods, optimizing treatment for patients.
The WQIQP is co-directed by Dr. Mason and Dr. Olivier Elemento, the director of the Englander Institute and professor of computational genomics in pathology and laboratory medicine, of physiology and biophysics, and of computational genomics in computational biomedicine.
The support from the WQIQP has led to a significant boost in productivity and increased government funding for both Dr. Mason and Dr. Elemento.
In 2018, funding from Mr. Tulchinsky enabled the Englander Institute to acquire the Hyperion Imaging System, a sophisticated set of machines that utilize CyTOF (Cytometry by Time-of-Flight) technology for the real-time analysis of single cells. The technology is a powerful tool for identifying novel therapeutic targets and evaluating newly developed drugs – and has further elevated the research enterprise at Weill Cornell Medicine.
