Obstetrics & Gynecology

News and Events

Programs and providers of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine are often the focus of news stories and features appearing in major national media. We invite you to review some stories that typify the breakthrough accomplishments of our remarkable team and highlight the impact our care has had on patient’s lives.

Inflammation May Drive Dravet Syndrome, Offering a Potential New Treatment Target

Dravet Syndrome

An overactive immune response in the brain may play a role in Dravet Syndrome, a rare and severe genetic epilepsy that typically begins in infancy, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. Children with the condition experience frequent seizures that are often difficult to control with medication and may also face developmental, cognitive and behavioral challenges. Until now, most research has focused on how a mutation in the SCN1A gene disrupts electrical signaling in the brain.

“Rather than being a disorder only involving abnormal electrical signaling, the disease may also involve a self-sustaining immune response triggered by DNA released from stressed neurons,” said study senior author Dr. Li Gan, the Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Distinguished Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell. “As a result, inflammation may help drive and sustain the disease. This finding links seizures to the brain's immune system in a way that had not been fully appreciated before.”

Message to Weill Cornell Medicine Community About Agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office

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Cornell University President Michael I. Kotlikoff and Dr. Robert A. Harrington, Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine, sent the following message on July 27 to the Weill Cornell Medicine community.

Dear Weill Cornell Medicine Community,

We are writing to let you know that we have resolved an investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office into former faculty member Darius Paduch’s gross misconduct at Weill Cornell Medicine. The agreement, which was publicly announced just minutes ago, concludes the government’s investigation into this matter, which included Paduch’s 2024 criminal conviction and sentencing.

This resolution is a significant step forward for us in addressing our former faculty member’s misconduct, which represented a profound betrayal of our mission and the trust that patients place in physicians and medical institutions. No patient should ever experience abuse by a clinician. 

Weill Cornell Medicine is a safer organization today than it was when these events occurred. As the U.S. Attorney has acknowledged, we have already implemented significant reforms to enhance patient safety and prevent future misconduct. These include:

Pioneering Physician-Scientist Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley Reflects on Her Career Successes

Dr. Imperato-McGinley

Video of Weill Cornell Medicine Honors Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley

A 2023 video honors Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley's storied career.

As a new endocrinology fellow at what is now Weill Cornell Medicine in the early 1970s, Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley hit a wall.

Her first assignment was to write a grant proposal, something she had never done. Over many months, she agonized over every word, tossing many revisions in the trash. Finally, Dr. Imperato-McGinley told her chief she simply couldn’t do it, that he’d picked the wrong person for the job. But he had discovered her almost-daily versions of the document in the wastebasket, fishing them out. “How about sending your version 23?” he asked with a wry smile.

Dr. Imperato-McGinley

Dr. Imperato-McGinley as an endocrinology fellow at Weill Cornell in 1972.

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