Dr. Myles Wolf Appointed Chair of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center

Dr. Myles Wolf, an esteemed physician-scientist who specializes in nephrology, has been appointed chair of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and physician-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, effective July 1.

Recruited as the Sanford I. Weill Chair, Dr. Wolf will lead the institutions’ largest clinical and academic department, overseeing 16 divisions and nearly 2,250 physicians and scientists—health care innovators and skilled experts in their areas of medicine. Dr. Wolf will seek to further enhance and expand the reach of Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian’s exceptional clinical care, while also broadening the department’s research portfolio. As chair, he will recruit leading clinicians and investigators to join the distinguished team already in place in the Weill Department of Medicine and foster the next generation of medical leaders through its education programs—including residency and fellowship programs in a range of specialties.

Dr. Wolf was recruited from Duke University School of Medicine, where he is chief of the Division of Nephrology and the Charles Johnson, MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine, also serving as the Nephrology Therapeutic Area Leader at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

He succeeds Dr. Anthony Hollenberg, who led the Weill Department of Medicine from 2017 to 2022. Dr. John Leonard, senior associate dean for innovation and initiatives and the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology, served as interim chair since October 2022.

“Dr. Wolf is a distinguished scientist, physician, educator and leader, and we are delighted that he will be joining our institutions as chair of the Weill Department of Medicine,” said Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine. “With Dr. Wolf at the helm, the department will continue to maintain its reputation of excellence, built on a foundation of cutting-edge research and innovation, world-class care and the cultivation of future health care leaders.”

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Wolf, an outstanding physician-scientist, educator and leader who shares our commitment to providing the highest quality care to our patients,” said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, president and chief executive officer of NewYork-Presbyterian. “Dr. Wolf’s leadership and vision will be a tremendous asset to the department as we continue to advance care and research to improve the health of all the communities we serve.”

“This is a transformational opportunity and an extraordinary amount of responsibility, given the scale and the scope of the department,” Dr. Wolf said. “Ultimately, this role is about service to others, which is what energizes me. It’s an opportunity to learn and to work with amazing people at an outstanding institution where, together, even more can be achieved.”

The Weill Department of Medicine has an expansive clinical footprint throughout New York City and beyond. It provides high quality care to patients at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian campuses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and surrounding areas, and collaborates with neighboring institutions and those across the globe. As chair, Dr. Wolf will focus on expanding access to care in diverse communities across the city that are underserved, including in areas of cancer care delivery and clinical trials.

Dr. Wolf will also seek to foster new opportunities for scientific discovery and strengthen existing collaborations between investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University and Hospital for Special Surgery, as well as Cornell University in Ithaca and Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island.

The department’s divisions include cardiology; clinical epidemiology; endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism; gastroenterology and hepatology; internal medicine; geriatrics and palliative medicine; hematology and medical oncology; infectious diseases; medical ethics; nephrology and hypertension; public health programs; pulmonary and critical care medicine; regenerative medicine; and rheumatology, as well as specialized centers in women’s health and global health.

With Weill Cornell Medicine’s enduring tradition of excellence in education—which includes medical student education, the internal medicine residency program and multiple fellowship programs in subspecialty areas of medicine—as well as his personal longstanding commitment to mentorship, Dr. Wolf will also prioritize the continued professional development of students, trainees and faculty.

“Academic medical centers are powerful engines of clinical care, education, scientific discovery, economic growth, and community service that must be nurtured and preserved,” he said. “At a time when these centers are making great clinical and scientific advances, they also face major headwinds. It is incumbent on major institutions like Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian to lead academic medicine and patient care into its next era.”

For Dr. Wolf, who grew up in New York City and attended medical school in Brooklyn, returning to New York felt like a natural move after having been away for close to 30 years. “I always felt a strong gravitational pull to come back to New York at some point,” he said, “and I needed to find a professional opportunity to align with my personal goal. This is yet another of the many reasons why coming to Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian is so exciting.”

Dr. Myles Wolf received his bachelor’s degree in biology from The Johns Hopkins University, his medical degree from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn and a Master of Medical Sciences degree in clinical and physiological investigation from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a clinical fellowship in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a research fellowship in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In 2002, Dr. Wolf joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School, rising to the position of assistant professor of medicine. In 2008 he became an associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, assistant dean for translational and clinical research and, eventually, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension. In 2013, he became a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine before joining the faculty at Duke University School of Medicine in 2016 as professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Nephrology.

Dr. Wolf’s research focuses on disordered mineral homeostasis across the spectrum of kidney disease. His team investigates the role of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) in normal phosphate and calcium homeostasis, its alterations in patients with chronic kidney disease, the adverse effects of excess FGF23 on cardiovascular health and the molecular mechanisms that underlie these risk relationships. He has consistently served as a principal investigator on National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants in basic and clinical research, epidemiology, and clinical trials.

A leader in his field, Dr. Wolf has delivered numerous endowed lectures at medical institutions across the country and his research has been published in top-tier journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation and Cell Metabolism. His awards and honors include the Donald W. Seldin Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Nephrology-American Heart Association Kidney Council, and election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Clinical and Climatological Society.