Weill Cornell to establish new child care center

Weill Cornell Medical College announced today that it will create a child care center for up to 60 children of its faculty, students and staff near its campus on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Weill Cornell has signed an agreement to lease and refurbish space on 60th Street between York and First avenues. Renovations are scheduled to begin this fall, with opening set for the second half of 2013.

The child care center will be operated by Bright Horizons Family Solutions, one of the world's leading providers of child care services. The company operates child care centers and schools across the U.S., Canada and Europe, including several in New York City such as the Bright Horizons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

"This new center is critically important to meet the work-life demands of our faculty, staff and students, especially as we recruit for our new Belfer Research Building," said Dr. Laurie Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and Provost of Medical Affairs for Cornell University. "Quality child care is hard to come by and expensive in New York City, and we see this as an important step in improving this benefit for our Weill Cornell community. This is an exciting program for Weill Cornell and another example of how we are setting the standard for excellence in academic medicine."

"The center is the result of the hard work of a group of people dedicated to making Weill Cornell a great place to work," Dean Glimcher added. "I want to thank our Board of Overseers for their support of this initiative, as well as the leadership of our Human Resources group and Office of Faculty Diversity for making it happen."

"Attracting and retaining great talent is a priority for Weill Cornell," said Lisa Abbott, Senior Director of Human Resources at Weill Cornell. "We believe our new child care center is a significant milestone in achieving that objective. We are confident we have found great space that is perfectly suited to our needs and convenient to our campus, and we are thrilled to be in partnership with Bright Horizons, a leader in the child care field."

"The new child care center is another important example of our ongoing effort to create a culture of diversity and inclusion at Weill Cornell," said Rache Simmons of the Office of Faculty Diversity. "By helping members of the Weill Cornell community manage their lives and the lives of their families in better ways, we will continue to improve our ability to create and maintain a culture of excellence."