For Bryan and Margie Weingarten, their relationship with Weill Cornell Medicine’s Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program is extending beyond the medical center and into Aspen.
On January 15, 2027, an Aspen gathering is planned to introduce members of the community to the genetics program and create an opportunity to learn more about its work. Amanda and Bret Hirsh will host the event at their home, with Melissa Frey, Amanda and Bret, and Ellen Davis involved in bringing the gathering together. Frey has invited the Weingartens and others who may be interested in learning more about the program or becoming involved.
The event reflects the increasingly important role that community connections can play in advancing awareness of hereditary cancer and personalized prevention.
The Weingartens already have a longstanding connection to this work at Weill Cornell Medicine. Their philanthropic support has included funding an oncology genetics social worker within Dr. Melissa Frey’s Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program, helping provide patients and families with support as they navigate hereditary cancer risk and genetic testing.
That work becomes especially relevant as conversations about cancer genetics continue to expand beyond the clinic.
Genetic information can influence decisions about screening and prevention, while also raising questions for parents, siblings, children, and other family members. For patients, understanding hereditary risk is not simply a scientific exercise. It can become part of some of the most consequential healthcare decisions a family makes.
Creating opportunities for people to learn directly from medical professionals can make that subject easier to understand.
The Aspen gathering follows the Innovations in Cancer Genetics Symposium at Weill Cornell Medicine in October 2026, where physicians, researchers, patients, family members, and patient advocates will come together for three days of discussion about cancer genetics. The symposium will also feature a screening of Love, Danielle, a film centered on a woman who learns she carries a BRCA1 mutation and must confront difficult decisions about cancer prevention.
Together, these efforts demonstrate two complementary sides of the Weingartens’ support for medical innovation: strengthening important work within a leading medical institution while helping create broader awareness around the issues that work addresses.
For Bryan and Margie, that long-term approach has been evident across their support of Weill Cornell Medicine. Their philanthropy has included women’s health, cancer prevention, medical research, and programs designed to improve the patient experience. The common thread is support for exceptional professionals and institutions working toward meaningful, lasting improvements in healthcare.
The Aspen gathering offers a more personal setting for that relationship to continue. Rather than a large conference, it creates space for conversation—an opportunity for members of the community to hear more about the genetics program, ask questions, and consider how they might become involved.
Medical innovation ultimately depends on more than discoveries in a laboratory. It also depends on awareness, collaboration, patient engagement, and the willingness of communities to support the institutions advancing the work.
For the Weingartens, bringing that conversation to Aspen is another expression of a broader commitment: helping connect people with the ideas, professionals, and institutions capable of improving lives over the long term.
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