Rockefeller University

The Rockefeller University is a private graduate university in New York City. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[6] Rockefeller is the oldest biomedical research institute in the United States. The 82-person faculty (tenured and tenure-track, as of 2018) has 37 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 members of the National Academy of Medicine, seven Lasker Award recipients, and five Nobel laureates. As of October 2020, a total of 38 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Rockefeller University.

The Rockefeller University
Former names
The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (1901–1958), The Rockefeller Institute (1958–1965)
MottoScientia pro bono humani generis
Motto in English
Science for the benefit of humanity
TypePrivate, Graduate
Established1901 (1901)
FounderJohn D. Rockefeller[1]
Endowment$2.29 billion (2019)[2]
PresidentRichard P. Lifton
Academic staff
79[3]
Postgraduates232[4]
Location, ,
United States

40°45′45″N 73°57′20″W
CampusUrban, 16 acres[5]
Websiterockefeller.edu

The university is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, between 63rd and 68th streets on York Avenue. Richard P. Lifton became the university's eleventh president on September 1, 2016. The Rockefeller University Press publishes the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the Journal of Cell Biology, and The Journal of General Physiology.

History

Campus as seen from Roosevelt Island (2019)
Founder's Hall
The FDR Drive runs under the campus

The Rockefeller University was founded in June 1901 as The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research—often called simply The Rockefeller Institute—by John D. Rockefeller, who had founded the University of Chicago in 1889, upon advice by his adviser Frederick T. Gates[1] and action taken in March 1901 by his son, John D. Rockefeller Jr.[7] Greatly elevating the prestige of American science and medicine, it was America's first biomedical institute, like France's Pasteur Institute (1888) and Germany's Robert Koch Institute (1891).[1] The Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic organization, founded in 1913, is a separate entity, but had close connections mediated by prominent figures holding dual positions.[8]

The first director of laboratories was Simon Flexner, who supervised the development of research capacity at the Institute, whose staff made major discoveries in basic research and medicine. While a student at Johns Hopkins University, Flexner had studied under the Institute's first scientific director, William H. Welch, first dean of Hopkins' medical school and known as the dean of American medicine.[7] Flexner retired in 1935 and was succeeded by Herbert Gasser.[9] He was succeeded in 1953 by Detlev Bronk, who broadened The Rockefeller Institute into a university that began awarding the PhD degree in 1954.[7] In 1965 The Rockefeller Institute's name was changed to The Rockefeller University.[7]

For its first six decades, the Institute focused on basic research to develop basic science, on applied research as biomedical engineering, and, since 1910—when The Rockefeller Hospital opened on its campus as America's first facility for clinical research—on clinical science.[10] The Rockefeller Hospital's first director Rufus Cole retired in 1937 and was succeeded by Thomas Milton Rivers.[11] As director of The Rockefeller Institute's virology laboratory, he established virology as an independent field apart from bacteriology.

Notable individuals

Notable figures to emerge from the institution include Alexis Carrel, Peyton Rous, Hideyo Noguchi, Thomas Milton Rivers, Richard Shope, Thomas Francis Jr, Oswald T. Avery, Rebecca Lancefield, Wendell Meredith Stanley, René Dubos, Ashton Carter, and Cornelius P. Rhoads. Others attained eminence before being drawn to the university. Joshua Lederberg, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958, served as president of the university from 1978 to 1990.[12] Paul Nurse, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001, was president from 2003 to 2010.[13] (Before Nurse's tenure, Thomas Sakmar was acting-president from 2002.[14]) In all, as of October 2020, 38 Nobel Prize recipients have been associated with the University. In the mid-1970s, the University attracted a few prominent academicians in the humanities, such as Saul Kripke.

Rockefeller Sr, urged by Rockefeller Jr, his only son, who was enthusiastic about the Institute, visited the University once.[1]:475 Rockefeller Jr's youngest son David would visit with his father.[15] David Rockefeller joined the board of trustees in 1940, was its chairman from 1950 to 1975, chaired the board's executive committee from 1975 to 1995, became honorary chairman and life trustee,[16] and remained active as a philanthropist until his death.[15]

Archives

The archives of Rockefeller University are at the Rockefeller Archive Center, established in 1974 as part of the university and organized as an independent foundation since 2008.[17]

Reginald Archibald sexual misconduct case

Dr. Reginald Archibald, an endocrinologist at the university from 1948 to 1982, allegedly abused dozens or hundreds of boys during his time at the University while studying growth problems in children, including molestation and photographing them naked.[18][19][20] Officials at Rockefeller University knew of the legitimacy of the claims for years before notifying the public.[19] The university and hospital issued a statement confirming that Archibald had "engaged in certain inappropriate conduct during patient examinations" and that they "deeply regret[ted]" any "pain and suffering" the former patients felt.[18] New York State passed a law known as the Child Victims Act, which created a one-year window for civil suits brought by former child victims, allowing them to make cases against the university.[20]

Organization and administration

Governance

  • More than 80 heads of laboratories
  • 200 research and clinical scientists
  • 350 postdoctoral investigators
  • 1,050 clinicians, technicians, administrative and support staff

To foster an interdisciplinary atmosphere among its laboratories, faculty members are grouped into one or more of ten interconnecting research areas:[21][22]

  • biochemistry, biophysics, chemical biology, and structural biology
  • cancer biology
  • cell biology
  • genetics and genomics
  • immunology, virology, and microbiology
  • mechanisms of human disease
  • neurosciences and behavior
  • organismal biology and evolution
  • physical, mathematical, and computational biology
  • stem cells, development, regeneration, and aging

Academics

University rankings
National
ARWU[23] 26
Global
ARWU[24] 43
U.S. News & World Report[25] 62

Graduate degree programs

Rockefeller University admitted its first graduate students in 1955.[26] Today, approximately 250 graduate students are enrolled in the program, which offers doctoral degrees in the biomedical sciences, chemistry, and biophysics.[27] The university's organization on the basis of laboratories rather than a hierarchical departmental structure[28] extends to the graduate program, where laboratory research is the primary focus and students can meet degree requirements by participating in any combination of courses.[27] In partnership with neighboring Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medicine, Rockefeller participates in the Tri-Institutional MD–PhD Program as well as a Tri-Institutional chemical biology Ph.D. program.[29]

Research

The university is classified among "R-2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity".[6] Faculty and researchers at Rockefeller have a history of research breakthroughs including:

  • First to culture the infectious agent associated with syphilis[30]
  • Showed that viruses can be oncogenic, and enabled the field of tumor biology[31]
  • Development of tissue culture techniques[32]
  • Discovery of the dendritic cell, the sentinel of the immune system
  • Identification of a genetic defect associated with atherosclerosis, the leading cause of heart attacks in the U.S.
  • Development of solid phase peptide synthesis
  • Development of the practice of travel vaccination[33]
  • Pioneered the physiology and chemistry of vision
  • Located genes regulating the sleep/wake cycle
  • Identified the phenomenon of autoimmune disease[34]
  • Developed virology as an independent field[35]
  • Developed the first peptide antibiotic[36]
  • Obtained the first American isolation of influenzavirus A and first isolation of influenzavirus B[37]
  • Showed that genes are structurally composed of DNA,[38] discovered blood groups, resolved that virus particles are protein crystals[39]
  • Resolved antibody structure, developed methadone treatment of heroin addiction, devised the AIDS "drug cocktail", and identified the appetite-regulating hormone leptin[40]

Student life

The university has periodic events, such as an alumni lecture series featuring individuals such as David J. Anderson, of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute.[41]

Promotion of women in science and outreach activities

The Rockefeller University established a Women in Science initiative in 1998 to address the underrepresentation of women in the field [42] which is founded mainly by female philanthropists.[43] The program includes scholarships and an entrepreneurship found to help increase the low number of female researchers that commercialize their discoveries.[44] In 2004 Rockefeller's professor Paul Greengard donated the full amount of his Nobel Prize to establish the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize given annually to a woman scientist in the field of biology.

Rockefeller also host diverse initiatives to promote science and culture: Parents & Science Initiative,[45] The RockEDU Science Outreach for K-12 students and teachers [46] that includes lab experience and professional development and The Lewis Thomas Prize for writing about science is given annually.

In addition, Rockefeller hosts the Peggy Rockefeller Concerts[47] and in collaboration with Cornell University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center it hosts the Tri-Institutional Noon concert Series.

In 2012, Rockefeller began participating in Open House New York's OHNY Weekend.[48]

Notable people

Nobel laureates

YearNobel LaureatePrizeRockefeller Affiliation
2020 Charles M. Rice Physiology or Medicine Faculty when prize awarded
2020 Emmanuelle Charpentier Chemistry Postdoctoral fellow before prize awarded
2017Michael W. YoungPhysiology or MedicineFaculty when prize awarded
2016Yoshinori OhsumiPhysiology or MedicinePostdoctoral fellow before prize awarded
2011Ralph SteinmanPhysiology or MedicineFaculty when prize awarded
2011Bruce BeutlerPhysiology or MedicinePostdoctoral fellow before prize awarded
2003Roderick MacKinnonChemistryFaculty when prize awarded
2001Paul NursePhysiology or MedicinePresident and faculty after prize awarded
2000Paul GreengardPhysiology or MedicineFaculty when prize awarded
1999Günter BlobelPhysiology or MedicineFaculty when prize awarded
1984R. Bruce MerrifieldChemistryFaculty when prize awarded
1981Torsten WieselPhysiology or MedicinePresident and faculty after prize awarded
1975David BaltimorePhysiology or MedicineAlumnus; President after prize awarded
1974Albert ClaudePhysiology or MedicineFaculty before prize awarded
1974Christian de DuvePhysiology or MedicineFaculty when prize awarded
1974George E. PaladePhysiology or MedicineFaculty before prize awarded
1972Stanford MooreChemistryFaculty when prize awarded
1972William H. SteinChemistryFaculty when prize awarded
1972Gerald M. EdelmanPhysiology or MedicineAlumnus; Faculty when prize awarded
1967H. Keffer HartlinePhysiology or MedicineFaculty when prize awarded
1966Peyton RousPhysiology or MedicineEmeritus faculty when prize awarded
1958Joshua LederbergPhysiology or MedicinePresident and then faculty after prize awarded
1958Edward L. TatumPhysiology or MedicineFaculty when prize awarded
1953Fritz LipmannPhysiology or MedicineRockefeller fellow before and faculty after prize awarded
1946John H. NorthropChemistryMember when prize awarded
1946Wendell M. StanleyChemistryMember when prize awarded
1944Herbert S. GasserPhysiology or MedicineDirector when prize awarded
1930Karl LandsteinerPhysiology or MedicineMember when prize awarded
1912Alexis CarrelPhysiology or MedicineMember when prize awarded

Award affiliations taken from "The Rockefeller University » Nobel Laureates". Retrieved March 17, 2016.

Alumni

There are more than 1,262 alumni.[49]

References

  1. Chernow, Ron (1998). Titan: the life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. New York: Random House. pp. 471–2. ISBN 978-0-679-43808-3. OCLC 37615450. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  2. As of June 30, 2019. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2018 to FY 2019". National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  3. "The Rockefeller University". Peterson’s. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  4. "The Rockefeller University". Peterson’s. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  5. Samantha Schmidt (June 15, 2016). "Rockefeller University Starts Its Expansion Over a Busy Highway". Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  6. "Carnegie Classifications Institution Lookup". carnegieclassifications.iu.edu. Center for Postsecondary Education. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  7. Swingle AM. "The Rockefeller chronicle". Hopkins Medical News. Fall 2002.
  8. Hannaway C. Biomedicine in the Twentieth Century: Practices, Policies, and Politics (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2008), p 230, note 46.
  9. "Herbert S Gasser—biography". Nobelprize.org. September 6, 2011 (Web-access date).
  10. "The Rockefeller University Hospital". Rockefeller.edu. February 18, 2011 (Web-access date).
  11. "At Rockefeller Hospital". Time. May 24, 1937.
  12. "Joshua Lederberg—biography". Nobelprize.org. February 18, 2011 (Web-access date).
  13. "Paul Nurse to resign as Rockefeller president to become president of Royal Society of London in December". April 23, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  14. Nybo, Kristie (2010). "Profile of Thomas Sakmar". BioTechniques. 49 (5): 779. doi:10.2144/000113534.
  15. Arenson KW, "Turning 90, a Rockefeller gives the presents", New York Times, June 9, 2005.
  16. "David Rockefeller honored with named professorship: Barry Coller will be first David Rockefeller Professor". News & Notes. 12 (12). The Rockefeller University. December 15, 2000.
  17. "New Governance at the Rockefeller Archive Center," Rockefeller Archive Center Newsletter, 2008. http://rockarch.org/publications/newsletter/nl2008.pdf
  18. "These Men Want The Scientific Community To Acknowledge That A Famous Researcher Sexually Abused Them". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  19. Goldbaum, Christina (October 18, 2018). "An Esteemed Doctor, Child Sexual Abuse Claims and a Hospital That Knew for Years". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  20. Olivia Messer (August 20, 2019). "'Now We Have a Voice': Survivors of NYC Pediatrician File Lawsuits in Wake of Child Victims Act". Daily Beast. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  21. "Research areas". Rockefeller.edu. April 23, 2018 (Web-access date).
  22. "Quick Facts". Rockefeller.edu. June 27, 2013 (Web-access date).
  23. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020: National/Regional Rank". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  24. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  25. "2021 Best Global Universities Rankings". U.S. News & World Report LP. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  26. "Degree right granted". The New York Times. November 20, 1954. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  27. "The Rockefeller University Overview". Peterson's. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  28. From Institute to University: A Brief History of The Rockefeller University, 1985 (pp. 13)
  29. Paul Smaglik (September 26, 2002). "New York: Building cooperation". Nature. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  30. Yoshida H (2009). "Seroimmunological studies by Dr Hideyo Noguchi: Introduction and illustration of his seroimmunological research, with a connection to recent seroimmunology". Rinsho Byori. 57 (12): 1200–8. PMID 20077823.
  31. Van Epps HL (2005). "Peyton Rous: Father of the tumor virus". J. Exp. Med. 201 (3): 320. doi:10.1084/jem.2013fta. PMC 2213042. PMID 15756727.
  32. Fischer A (1922). "Cultures of organized tissues". J. Exp. Med. 36 (4): 393–7. doi:10.1084/jem.36.4.393. PMC 2128315. PMID 19868681.
  33. Frierson JG (2010). "The yellow fever vaccine: A history"—section "First vaccine attempts". Yale J. Biol. Med. 83 (2): 77–85. PMC 2892770. PMID 20589188.
  34. Van Epps, H. L. (2005). "Thomas Rivers and the EAE model". J. Exp. Med. 202 (1): 4. doi:10.1084/jem.2021fta. PMC 2212888.
  35. "Rivers, Thomas Milton (1888-1962)". American Decades. 2001. February 18, 2011 (Web-access date).
  36. Zimmerman BE, Zimmerman DJ. Killer Germs (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003), p 35.
  37. "Thomas Francis Jr". Encyclopædia Britannica. February 18, 2011 (Web-access date).
  38. McCarty, Maclyn (2003). "Discovering genes are made of DNA". Nature. 421 (6921): 406. Bibcode:2003Natur.421..406M. doi:10.1038/nature01398. PMID 12540908.
  39. "Wendell Meredith Stanley". Encyclopædia Britannica. February 18, 2011 (Web-access date).
  40. "Jeffrey Friedman, discoverer of leptin, receives Gairdner, Passano awards" (Press release). Rockefeller University. April 14, 2005. Retrieved September 25, 2017 via Medical News Today.
  41. "The Detlev W. Bronk Alumni Lecture". Rockefeller University. 2019.
  42. "Rockefeller University Women in Science Initiative".
  43. "Wall Street journal: Women in Science Luncheon at Rockefeller University 2010".
  44. "Women in Science entrepreneurship found" (PDF).
  45. "Rockefeller Parents & Science".
  46. "Rock Edu Outreach".
  47. "Peggy Rockefeller concert series".
  48. "More than 750 people visit campus during Open House New York". Rockefeller University.
  49. The Rockefeller University 2018 Annual Report (PDF). 2018. p. 11.
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