Reflecting on Our Journey and Wishing You a Joyful Holiday Season

December 18, 2025

Dear Rutgers Health community,

As this year draws to a close, I want to wish each of you a peaceful, joyful holiday season and share my heartfelt hopes for your continued success in the years ahead.

Looking back on twelve years as your inaugural Chancellor, I am filled with deep gratitude. This role has been the greatest privilege of my career, and your passion, humanity, and commitment to improving lives have inspired me every day. As I reflect more broadly on my career, one truth stands out: teaching and mentorship have brought me the greatest joy. Watching our trainees grow into leaders who elevate their fields has been the legacy I value most. I have always sought work that is meaningful and directly impactful to people’s lives, and you have made that possible.

Together, we have achieved enormous progress across Rutgers Health, including bringing in more than $4 billion in research to the university and the state. This past year alone exemplified what is possible when we work with purpose and unity. As just a few examples, we secured an 8% increase in grant awards in FY25, totaling more than $600 million, and saw federal awards in the first quarter of FY26 climb another 30% over last year’s record high, all at a time when national funding for science is declining. Numbers, of course, tell only part of the story; the real story is the impact behind them.

This year, our researchers discovered that a simple blood test could diagnose asthma and determine its severity, a breakthrough that could transform how the disease is identified and monitored. We celebrated extraordinary academic excellence with Omar M. Abuattieh, a doctoral student at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, who was selected as a 2026 Rhodes Scholar. We witnessed a transformative clinical discovery at the Rutgers Cancer Institute, where researchers announced two HPV-related studies showing that new T-cell therapies can achieve long-lasting complete tumor regression in advanced epithelial cancers. We also marked a historic expansion of access to care as we broke ground with University Hospital Newark on the first phase of the Newark campus redevelopment, a major new capital investment for the city. And progress continues with our Rutgers Health Building at the Helix in New Brunswick, opening this coming spring as part of what’s been called the most significant new construction in New Jersey for health care, research, technology, transportation, and economic development.

These milestones represent only a very small fraction of what you have accomplished, but they underscore the tremendous momentum you have created and the possibilities ahead.

As I complete my tenure as chancellor, I want to leave you with the same advice that has guided me along my own path: Do what you enjoy. Get in touch with what you truly want, because that is where you will do your best work. Don’t follow only the path you think you should take; follow the one that excites and inspires you. I have followed that advice in every step of my career, and it has allowed me to enjoy every minute.

This is the last time I will write to you as your Chancellor. But I hope it is not the last time I remain part of your lives. Rutgers, and each of you, will always be deeply important to me. In only 12 short years, together we moved Rutgers Health to a position of national prominence. I look forward to watching you continue this momentum with the remarkable work you are doing to shape an even stronger future for the people we serve.

With profound gratitude and warm holiday wishes,

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