NEW YORK (April 27, 2005) -- Sanford I. Weill, Chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Dr. Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., Dean of the Medical College, announced today that the school will launch a second Challenge Match to help complete its $750 million capital campaign, one of the largest ever undertaken by a medical college. The Challenge will match major philanthropic gifts to Weill Cornell's campaign, known as Advancing the Clinical Mission.

The Challenge aims to propel the campaign to a strong and early finish by December 31, 2005. Capital and programmatic gifts to the campaign are eligible for the Challenge as of today and through December 31, or whenever match funds are depleted, whichever comes first. The campaign has raised more than $545 million dollars to date, and is in the midst of constructing Cornell University's flagship building in New York City for ambulatory care and medical education.

"We are extremely pleased about this Challenge Match," says Mr. Weill. "It is a remarkable commitment and an enormous endorsement of Weill Cornell's vision for the future of medical education, scientific research, and patient care. Advancing the Clinical Mission aims to ensure that Weill Cornell remains an international leader in the field of academic medicine, and this new Challenge will propel that mission forward.

"In the crucial home stretch of our campaign, this Challenge Match will generate increased support and maximize the impact of our donors' gifts, propelling our campaign to a stellar finish," says Dr. Gotto, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell.

The Challenge, with its matching strategy, provides new and additional incentives for all Campaign contributions -- including outright gifts, planned gifts, investments in endowment, and faculty giving.

"This Challenge provides a tremendous incentive for contributions to the Medical College and will allow our supporters to significantly increase the impact of their gifts," says Weill Cornell Campaign Chairman and Overseer Kevin R. Brine. "Matching funds will be directed toward the area, or a related area, of the donor's interest, and donors will receive recognition for the total matched gift."

Weill Cornell Medical College has a long and successful history of boosting fundraising efforts through challenge grants. The capital campaign's first challenge grant, fueled with a $50 million bequest in 2003, was a crucial catalyst to the success to date of the campaign by providing new impetus to recruit supporters and introduce new philanthropists to the Weill Cornell community.

Advancing the Clinical Mission Weill Cornell's $750 million capital campaign, Advancing the Clinical Mission, was launched in January 2002, with two extraordinary leadership gifts totaling $150 million from Board of Overseers Chairman Sanford I. Weill and his wife, Joan, and Overseer Maurice R. Greenberg and his wife, Corinne. The Weills contributed $100 million, and the Greenbergs, together with the Starr Foundation, made a gift of $50 million.

Through the capital campaign, Weill Cornell seeks to accelerate the translation of research discoveries into innovative patient care, and ensure the quality and superiority of its future generations of faculty and medical students, and facilities. The College's new Ambulatory Care and Medical Education building, scheduled to open in fall 2006, is a cornerstone project of the campaign.

The campaign specifically calls for the recruitment of 10 new clinical chairs, 62 faculty, and 375 health professionals. The campaign will provide vital resources for 37 new or enhanced clinical programs with an emphasis on women's health, children's health, the heart, the brain, diseases of aging, and a variety of specialty care areas ranging from dermatology to otorhinolaryngology. In addition, important endowment and capital funds will be designated towards its medical education initiative.

Weill Cornell Medical College

Founded in 1898, Cornell University Medical College, now known as the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, has long ranked among the leading medical schools in the United States. From the start, the Medical College has followed an educational philosophy that emphasizes the importance of combining a strong basic foundation in the medical sciences with extensive clinical training in patient care. Weill Cornell physicians and scientists are engaged in both basic and clinical research in the cutting-edge areas of genetics and gene therapy, neuroscience, structural biology, and cardiovascular medicine, among many other areas. In partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, Weill Cornell now provides expanded opportunities for students to gain clinical experience in a variety of settings. It is also the first American medical school with a location overseas to award a Cornell University medical degree to its graduates. Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, which opened in fall 2002, offers young people in the region an unprecedented opportunity to study medicine and gain clinical experience in a rapidly developing educational locale.