This issue of Einstein magazine highlights important changes coming to the College of Medicine.

In February, I announced that the Boards of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Health System had voted unanimously to approve the terms of an agreement that will ensure a bright and sustainable future for Einstein. I’m pleased to say that the agreement was finalized in September 2015.

The new agreement will substantially bolster the College of Medicine’s financial health. Einstein students will continue to attend a highly competitive medical school that offers tremendous benefits for all its students—medical, M.D./Ph.D. and graduate—many of whom train at Montefiore. And this realignment allows for additional investments in basic and clinical research—areas where Einstein and Montefiore already excel. I’m especially pleased to be working more closely with my colleague and friend Dr. Steven Safyer, president and CEO of Montefiore and an Einstein alumnus.

Articles in this issue of Einstein magazine exemplify the new relationship between our two institutions. “Solving Rett Syndrome” shows how clinicians at the Rett Syndrome Center at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore are working closely with Einstein investigators and our Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center to offer novel diagnostic and therapeutic options to patients, mostly girls, who suffer from this rare but tragic genetic disease. Likewise, Einstein scientists such as Drs. Steven Almo and Xingxing Zang are striving to make immunotherapy an effective and less toxic option for several forms of cancer (see “Wielding a Powerful Weapon”). This work will be brought to the clinic with industry partners such as Pfizer’s Center for Therapeutic Innovation, and Montefiore will be in a powerful position to conduct key human trials involving immunotherapies.

These examples illustrate how the dynamic new relationship between Einstein and Montefiore—through collaborations in education, research, clinical care and community service—will improve the health of our Bronx community, our city, our country and the world.

Allen M. Spiegel, M.D.
The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean