Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine: Next Steps

November 4, 2022

Dear Colleagues,

Last month, we announced to the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences community the revival of the inquiry started in 2019 into the optimal level of integration and cooperation between New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The next step in this process is to develop a thoughtful response to a comprehensive series of questions posed by the University Senate.

We have assembled three committees of faculty, students, and staff from both medical schools to address these questions. Beginning next week, these committees will meet for the first time and be charged with the task of responding to key questions on admissions, curriculum, and maintaining campus identity and culture. The committees will assess ways in which enhanced cooperation and coordination might be advantageous for the medical schools, students, patients, and our host communities. Attached is a list of the committee members.

To assist with the process, we have retained ECG Management Consultants, a national consulting firm with expertise in academic health centers, and Dr. Janis Orlowksi, an expert on medical school administration who until recently was the chief medical officer at the AAMC. Our goal is for each committee to provide a preliminary report in December. These reports will be integrated with feedback from our internal and external constituencies more broadly and be presented to the University Senate in January.

We will continue to update you on developments from the committees and we look forward to sharing our progress with you. We would like to thank the dedicated faculty, staff, students, and community representatives for their valuable time and effort in this project and their commitment to the achievement of excellence in all our missions. 

Sincerely,

Robert L. Johnson, MD, FAAP 
Dean, New Jersey Medical School

Amy Murtha, MD 
Dean, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH 
Chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences 
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Rutgers University