The following is a greeting sent by the faculty, students and staff at Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar to President David Skorton on the occasion of his inauguration.

Greetings -- or assalamu alaykum -- from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar on the inauguration of the 12th president of Cornell University.

President Skorton: We note with great interest your medical background and the interest you have already shown in Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. We promise you a traditionally warm and pleasant welcome on your visit to our campus.

As Cornell enters its 146th year and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York enters its 108th, we in Qatar are embarking on our fifth. The new arrival in the Cornell family, WCMC-Q is the offspring of esteemed and venerable parents. The formative years ahead promise an exciting future.

Helping to establish the Cornell tradition on new ground are more than 50 members of faculty and some 150 students in five classes. Our internationally diverse community of faculty, staff and students is drawn from six continents.

The WCMC-Q community is part of an extraordinary venture here in the [Persian] Gulf: Education City. Established by Qatar Foundation, it is a campus dedicated to offering young people access to the finest education in a number of fields. Ultimately, the aim is nothing less than the creation of a knowledge society and economy in Qatar and, by extension, the region.

Such a visionary purpose is in harmony with the founding ideals of Cornell University: "any person … any study." They are ideals that transcend both time and place.

As the first location of an American university to offer an M.D. degree outside the United States, we are continuing the Cornell pioneering spirit. WCMC-Q brings the mission of the university's founders, Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, overseas -- to young people who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to access a Cornell and Weill Cornell education.

We are very proud to be part of this Cornell tradition, with its emphasis on excellence in education and research, tolerance and the open exchange of ideas, and a transnational vision.

The formative years have been a period of consolidation and considerable progress in all parts of our mission.

Major steps have been taken in education with the Class of 2010 about to start the medical program. We now have two premedical and three medical classes. Next year will see the enrollment of our sixth class, completing the roll out of our six-year program and concluding with the first graduating class receiving their medical doctor degrees in May of 2008.

The success of WCMC-Q students in the highly competitive admissions process for the medical program of Weill Cornell Medical College is a tribute both to the ability and effort of the students and to the dedication of the faculty in preparing them for medical school. Recent successes by the Class of 2008 in the USMLE [U.S. Medical Licensing Exam], Step 1, once again confirm the ability and dedication of our faculty and students.

In other areas of our mission, we continue to work with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the state healthcare provider in Qatar, to further cement the ties established by the Affiliation Agreement signed in 2004 by Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and HMC.

HMC physicians appointed as WCMC-Q voluntary faculty are actively involved in educating our medical students. Exchanges of senior clinicians and faculty are taking place as we forge close links with HMC's Department of Medical Education. Clinical clerkships are now under way for the Class of 2008 in the third year of the medical program.

In addition, work continues with the Qatar Foundation on the plans for a 382-bed specialty teaching hospital set to open in Education City in 2010.

Meanwhile, we have made important progress in preparing for the future research program for WCMC-Q, working together with Qatar Foundation, the National Health Authority and HMC. We are pleased to note that members of the Cornell and Weill Cornell research community are already familiar with many of our students, through the success of the summer research fellowship program for WCMC-Q students to work in the university's labs in the United States.

The student fellowships offer our students a tremendous opportunity to experience the history and traditions of our great institution, as we prepare the doctors and biomedical researchers of tomorrow in Qatar.

President Skorton: Your predecessors have witnessed the growth and evolution of Cornell over the years and the impact it has made on generations of educated young men and women from all over the world. You are witnessing the formative years of a new chapter in Cornell's history -- one that promises much.

Here in Qatar, there is an Arabic saying: "Learning is as indispensable as water and air."

We send you our best wishes for a truly memorable and enjoyable day.