Message from the Director

At my alma mater in Rome, I learned that clinical research is part of a clinician’s essential activities. My mentors said many times that something relevant to clinical research happens every day in a busy clinical practice and that if you don’t think that’s true, you’re not paying close enough attention. Physicians who also conduct research can improve knowledge, advance the field and provide benefits to more patients than is possible through clinical care alone.

As a centralized administrative office, the Joint Clinical Trial Office (JCTO) provides foundational support for designing, initiating and conducting clinical trials for a range of diseases. For these trials, we facilitate recruiting patient volunteers, regulatory compliance, safety and ethics reviews, and contracts with industry and government partners. 

The JCTO helps investigators with important scientific questions by providing assistance in designing and initiating trials and connecting them with patients who generously agree to volunteer as study participants. Through the JCTO, patients can learn about available clinical trials at Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian and across our institutional network in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Westchester.

Clinical medicine and research go hand in hand. Physicians who have not been exposed to clinical research during medical school, residencies or fellowships need to know that they can be both outstanding doctors and outstanding clinical researchers, especially with the support of the JCTO. Students and junior faculty members will be the next generation of investigators, building on today’s scientific advances to benefit more patients in the future.

Mario FL Gaudino, MD, PhD, MSCE, FEBCTS, FACC
Director, Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Joint Clinical Trials Office (JCTO)
Assistant Dean for Clinical Trials, Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM)