NEW YORK (June 20, 2007) -- A gift of $1 million from Leonard and Fleur Harlan has established the Leonard and Fleur Harlan Clinical Scholar Award at Weill Cornell Medical College to support an outstanding junior faculty member in the field of neurological surgery. Dr. Roger Härtl, director of the spine program and assistant professor of neurological surgery, has been named the first Leonard and Fleur Harlan Clinical Scholar.
Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., dean of Weill Cornell, says, "The Harlans have been wonderful friends to the Medical College for a long time, and this gift is just the latest demonstration of their support. Dr. Härtl is the driving force behind efforts to develop a multidisciplinary approach to spinal disorders. He works closely with colleagues from the non-surgical specialties, and it is hoped that this work will expand the management of spinal disorders through new, less invasive and more effective therapies. We have great expectations for this research."
"I am incredibly grateful for this award, which will enable me to devote more time to my research in spine surgery and brain trauma -- specifically pursuing research on outcomes analysis in the treatment of complex spinal disorders," says Dr. Härtl.
The field of spinal surgery is a rapidly expanding area, but it needs a better system for outcomes analyses. Dr. Härtl is pursuing specific research on outcomes analysis in the treatment of complex spinal disorders. He has introduced new minimally invasive surgical techniques and stereotactic navigation for spinal surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, for which he currently is collecting outcomes data.
"Fleur and I are very pleased to see our Clinical Scholar Award go to assist such an exciting area of research and such an outstanding clinician and researcher as Dr. Härtl. We're also pleased that Dean Gotto will have the flexibility he needs to place this award in other equally worthy areas of research in the future," says Leonard Harlan, a member of Weill Cornell's Board of Overseers.
Leonard and Fleur Harlan have been generous supporters of the Medical College since 1989. Mr. Harlan joined the Board of Overseers in 1998 and recently served as Vice Chair of the successful $750 million capital campaign. He is a member of the Weill Cornell Physicians Organization Policy Board, and previously served as a member of the Weill Cornell Departmental Associates, an organization of lay people interested in supporting and following developments in medical research at the Medical College.
In 1999, the Harlans gave $500,000 to support research in neuroscience; the conference room in the Whitney Laboratories Neuroscience floor was named in their honor.
Clinical Scholars are outstanding researchers and/or clinicians in the field of medicine who embody a tradition of excellence to be passed on to future physicians and scientists for generations to come. Clinical Scholar Awards are granted for an initial period of three years to junior faculty members who are either assistant or associate professors. The appointments to these awards are renewable, at the dean's discretion, for up to an additional consecutive three-year period.
Established during the recently completed capital campaign Advancing the Clinical Mission, the Clinical Scholars program connects donors directly with faculty and their research programs.
Leonard and Fleur Harlan
Leonard Harlan is chairman of the Executive Committee of Castle Harlan, Inc. and a member of the Executive Committee of CHAMP, the Australian affiliate of Castle Harlan. Mr. Harlan is currently a director of a number of companies as well as The Bulgarian American Enterprise Fund, established by the U.S. Congress. Castle Harlan, Inc. is a global private equity firm he co-founded with John K. Castle in 1987 to structure, invest in, and manage corporate transactions and private corporate equity investments. From 1969 to 1995, he was chairman and chief executive officer of The Harlan Company, Inc., a real-estate investment banking and advisory firm. Mr. Harlan began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1965, where he was a vice president and stockholder.
Fleur Harlan is a trustee of the Manhattan Institute and a member of the Board of Directors of ELEM (Youth in Distress in Israel) and The Trust for Public Land. Formerly, Mrs. Harlan was a limited partner of RS Lauder, Gaspar and Co. Ltd, a partnership that founded companies in the media and telecommunications industries for ten years. She was also managing director of Central European Development Corporation, Ltd., which developed media companies and real estate in Central Europe. Prior to that, Ms. Harlan was a manager of Bain and Company, and worked in Israel as a strategic planner with Scitex Corporation.
Dr. Roger Härtl
Dr. Härtl received his medical degree from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, in 1993. From 1994 to 1995, he served as a fellow in the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. The following year he held a Neurosurgical Critical Care Fellowship in the Department of Neurosurgery at Charité Hospital, Humboldt-University of Berlin in Germany. From 1997 to 1999, Dr. Härtl joined the neurosurgery program at Allegheny University Hospital of the Health Sciences in Philadelphia. He returned to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center for a neurosurgery residency that he completed in 2003. After a one-year spine fellowship at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., where he focused on complex spinal disorders, Dr. Härtl joined Weill Cornell as assistant professor of neurological surgery in 2004. In addition to his surgical practice, Dr. Härtl has published more than 40 articles -- most recently focused on his two current areas of interest, spine surgery and brain trauma.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College -- Cornell University's Medical School located in New York City -- is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Weill Cornell, which is a principal academic affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the teaching of basic and clinical sciences, problem-based learning, office-based preceptorships, and primary care and doctoring courses. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research in such areas as stem cells, genetics and gene therapy, geriatrics, neuroscience, structural biology, cardiovascular medicine, AIDS, obesity, cancer, psychiatry and public health -- and continue to delve ever deeper into the molecular basis of disease in an effort to unlock the mysteries behind the human body and the malfunctions that result in serious medical disorders. The Medical College -- in its commitment to global health and education -- has a strong presence in such places as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Salzburg, and Turkey. With the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical School is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the world's first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and, most recently, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth. For more information, visit www.med.cornell.edu.