Rockefeller University

Founder's Hall
Established:	1901
Type:	Private
Endowment:	$2.0 billion (June 30, 2008)[1]
President:	Sir Paul Nurse
Location:	New York City, New York, United States
Website:	http://www.rockefeller.edu/

The Rockefeller University is a private university which focuses primarily on basic research in the biomedical fields and offers graduate and postgraduate education. It is located between 63rd and 68th Streets along York Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York. Its current president is Sir Paul Nurse.

Twenty-three Nobel Prize winners have been associated with the university.

The university has been the site of many important scientific breakthroughs. Rockefeller scientists, for example, established that DNA is the chemical basis of heredity, discovered blood groups, showed that viruses can cause cancer, founded the modern field of cell biology, worked out the structure of antibodies, developed methadone maintenance for individuals addicted to heroin, devised the AIDS "cocktail" drug therapy, and identified the weight-regulating hormone leptin.^[2]

History

The original Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research was founded in 1901 by the oil baron and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, who had earlier founded the University of Chicago in 1889. The Rockefeller family has maintained strong links with the institution throughout its history–David Rockefeller, to give just one example, is the current Honorary Chairman and a Life Trustee. The Institute changed its name to The Rockefeller University in 1965, after expanding its mission to include education.

Upon its organization in 1901, Simon Flexner assumed the directorship.