Letter to the Editor: Merged med school will keep commitment to Newark | The Star Ledger

August 16, 2023

In a recent op-ed, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka called for an enhanced partnership between his city, and New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School as we begin the process of combining the schools into a singly accredited medical school. We at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences welcome his continued consultation, and stand with him in a shared commitment to improving health outcomes in Essex County.

In fact, the Rutgers Board of Governors’ resolution creating the combined Rutgers School of Medicine specifically requires that we safeguard the interests of the communities we serve as we enhance our ability to serve them.

We fully and strongly support the plan of University Hospital in Newark even before the merger to modernize and upgrade its facilities and become a world-class academic health center. The hospital is both critical to our academic mission and improving the health and wellness of Newark and Essex County residents.

In concert with the hospital’s redevelopment plans, we are actively seeking funding to accelerate our $600 million modernization of the Medical Science Building. This investment will provide the state-of-the-art laboratories and teaching spaces needed to recruit the next generation of researchers and physicians in training. The modernization will help us secure greater federal funding for research and allow us to expand clinical trials and provide patients with the most up-to-date treatment options. It will create new job opportunities for faculty and staff in Newark.

We welcome the mayor’s continued, active involvement in revolutionizing health care in Newark.

Brian L. Strom
Chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences

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