Dr. Alexis Halpern, assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine, has been elected as the chair of the Weill Cornell Medicine General Faculty Council (GFC), the governing faculty body of Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM). The Council comprises faculty representatives elected from WCM’s academic departments and from key affiliated organizations, such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Hospital for Special Surgery.
As chair, Dr. Halpern will preside over Council meetings, serve as an ex officio member of the GFC’s committees, and confer regularly with the Dean and WCM leadership. Her responsibilities will also include appointing members to committees in consultation with the Council’s officers.
The Council, together with the Executive Faculty Council, is responsible for addressing faculty interests and concerns with the college’s leadership and administration. The two councils also have jurisdiction over students' academic interests and all other educational matters in the college.
Dr. Halpern was first elected to the Council in 2015. During her tenure, she voted to recognize the Department of Emergency Medicine as an academic department, worked with WCM Human Resources to create and implement an academic family leave policy and collaborated with Dr. Rache Simmons and the Dean’s Diversity Office for Women to increase institutional childcare opportunities. She has served as vice chair and co-secretary of the Council, chair of the benefits committee, and a member of the steering committee.
Dr. Halpern graduated from Cornell University and earned her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Halpern completed her emergency medicine residency at New York University/Bellevue Hospital Center and a fellowship in geriatric emergency medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
