Our Mission
The Daniel McMenamin Endowment seeks to improve care, coordination, and collaboration for patients with rare diseases by increasing awareness, improving access, and fostering cooperation among patients, physicians, and researchers.
Navigating the array of evolving research, clinical trials, and specialized procedures can be overwhelming for a patient diagnosed with a rare disease. A number of factors add to the confusion, among them inconclusive research findings and the difficulty of deducing the costs and benefits of each potential option based on partial data. Researchers scattered across different institutions may not communicate regularly, and doctors themselves often lack the resources to guide the patient. The patient may simply, and possibly tragically, become resigned to choosing among fewer options.
By establishing an annual Visiting Professorship at Weill Cornell Medical College, the DME will open up new discussions in these issues.
“We cannot, after all, judge a biography by its length, by the number of pages in it; we must judge by the richness of the contents. Sometimes the 'unfinisheds' are among the most beautiful symphonies."
VIKTOR FRANKL
Our Story
Daniel Terrence McMenamin, MD (April 12, 1976–March 16, 2017) earned his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College, having also studied at Cornell as an undergraduate. After completing his residency and fellowship at the NYU School of Medicine, he continued to train in psychoanalysis at Columbia University, an intensive program of study pursued by a tiny percentage of psychiatrists, while building his own successful psychiatric practice. Even during his illness, Dan never wavered in his dedication to his patients. From his first diagnosis of uveal (ocular) melanoma in 2013 to the metastasis that claimed his life in 2017, he continued to strive, in his own words, to “learn as much as possible while helping others and yourself become the best person you and they can be.”
Photo by Karen Wise
As per his wishes, we've established this endowment in his name to continue his legacy.
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