About Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine
Learn about potential benefits of integration, the evaluation process, single accreditation, and how to share feedback.
Potential Benefits
An integrated model of medical education will position Rutgers School of Medicine as one of the largest and leading public medical schools in the country and create an unparalleled hub of biomedical and health sciences education, research, and clinical care.
When complete, the integration envisions a medical school that enjoys a national reputation greater than the sum of its parts, amplifying Rutgers University’s role as a leader in twenty-first century medical education.
Further potential benefits to an integration include:
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Closer collaboration on the educational mission offers a broader scope and scale of teaching talent, learning content, and clinical experiences that will benefit educators and learners.
- Attracting and keeping talent – An enhanced reputation and national prominence (see below) will help to attract and retain the best students and trainees.
- Broader and more consistent educational experiences – The best medical schools give their students experiences in a university hospital, private hospital, and safety net hospital. With an integration, medical students will have access to a wider array of clinical clerkships/electives and types of patient experiences, without the current administrative barriers to crossing over the two schools. Graduate Medical Education (GME) will also be integrated to form larger, stronger, and more uniform programs that are able to offer broader clinical experiences to trainees.
- More convenient learning opportunities – Many students have adapted to lectures via live or recorded video, a process which began long before the pandemic. A broader array of lectures (and lecture topics) will be available from faculty at both campuses, but discussion sections may remain regionally defined.
- Enhancement of MD/PhD programs – Over time, the individual programs could be combined, taking advantage of the scientific strengths of both schools, higher prestige, and access to more faculty and funding, and thereby becoming more nationally visible and more competitive for grants.
- Developing and sharing best practices – There will be an enhanced opportunity for innovation in education across both campuses, comparing approaches, and subsequently sharing and implementing innovations from one campus to the other.
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Leveraging our tremendous capacity as an integrated medical school will more accurately reflect our growing impact on clinical, translational, and basic biomedical research placing Rutgers at the forefront of the innovation economy attracting more federal and industry funding.
- Elevation in rankings – The impact of an integrated medical school on research rankings is substantial, whether looking at the ranking of individual departments or the medical school overall, and across all types of funding (e.g., federal and state funding among others), and this impacts other ranking systems (e.g., U.S. News & World Report). For example, our federal fiscal year 2021 National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding institutional rankings among 143 US medical schools are:
- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) at #62 with $68 million.
- New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) at #74 with $51 million.
- Combined RWJMS/NJMS at #47 with $119 million.
- The sum is greater than the parts – Combining complementary strengths, expertise, and resources from both schools will make the integrated medical school more competitive for external research and training grants. Similarly, a larger Rutgers-oriented patient base will make us more competitive for clinical trials.
- Attracting and keeping talent – An enhanced reputation and national prominence will help to attract and retain the best research faculty and trainees.
- Elevation in rankings – The impact of an integrated medical school on research rankings is substantial, whether looking at the ranking of individual departments or the medical school overall, and across all types of funding (e.g., federal and state funding among others), and this impacts other ranking systems (e.g., U.S. News & World Report). For example, our federal fiscal year 2021 National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding institutional rankings among 143 US medical schools are:
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A single medical school has the potential to expand our portfolio of tertiary and quaternary services and launch new services to a wider patient base this platform will help us save lives, maintain health, improve outcomes and patient satisfaction, reduce health care inequities and disparities, and create competitive fellowship programs.
- Strength and stability in the market – Current populations in each city are relatively small, especially when compared with New York or Philadelphia, making it impractical to offer as wide an array of specialized services. Additionally, our current service lines are too fragile, with the departure of one faculty member often hampering the ability to continue to offer a clinical service at the involved school. An integrated medical school provides the opportunity for greater breadth, depth, and coordination of services. This will increase our ability to offer the most specialized care, establish regional and national clinical destination programs, and better compete for market share locally and regionally.
- Improved service to our communities – Increasing our ability to offer the most specialized clinical services will better serve our communities, as patients will not need to travel to New York or Philadelphia to receive them. This minimizes, if not eliminates, barriers related to inconvenience, and expense (e.g., out-of-network care is much more expensive to the patient and the state). It also helps to address health inequities, as the most needy in our communities cannot afford to make such trips and pay for such care.
- Access to clinical trials – A larger Rutgers-oriented patient base, combined with a burgeoning research ranking and reputation, will make us more competitive for clinical trials and gain access for our patients to more cutting-edge treatments, therapeutics, and procedures.
- Attracting and keeping talent – An enhanced reputation and national prominence (see below) will help to attract and retain the best clinical faculty and trainees.
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An integrated medical school strongly identified with Rutgers University has the potential to broaden the recognition of the excellent medical education programs and growing research portfolios than each school has individually.
- Connection to Rutgers brand – Potential faculty and students and the public may not necessarily associate NJMS and RWJMS with Rutgers. An integrated medical school provides the opportunity to tie more closely to and benefit from the stronger, nationally recognized Rutgers brand.
- Alignment with more common medical school organizational models – Excluding large university systems (e.g., University of California and University of Texas), we know of only four universities in the country that have more than one autonomous medical school (i.e., Rutgers, University of South Carolina, New York University, and University of Arizona), and at least one of those (University of Arizona) is reconsidering its organizational model.
- Advancement within the Big 10 – Each of our schools now is small, relative to other schools. In part for this reason, of the 14 Big 10 medical schools (Rutgers’ individual schools are counted separately), Rutgers now ranks only #12 (RWJMS) and #13 (NJMS), above only Michigan State University’s medical school. A combined medical school would rise to #9 in the Big 10 and be more closely comparable to the University of Iowa and Ohio State University.
- Improvement in other rankings – Published rankings are driven substantially by research, and while NJMS and RWJMS are already artificially combined in Blue Ridge’s NIH rankings, US News & World Report evaluates schools separately based on their individual accreditations (which also divides and weakens the rankings of clinical and basic science departments). It is recognized that many institutions (e.g., Columbia, Harvard, Mt. Sinai, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford) have decided to discontinue their participation in the U.S. News & World Report medical school rankings, given concerns about how those rankings are determined. Our expectation is that the rankings will continue, as the public desires them, and we hope that U.S. News & World Report will revise its formulae to address some of the objections (as it has done for its law school rankings). At the least, they may be based more on publicly available metrics, which would make NIH funding even more important.
- More philanthropic support – Enhanced national prominence is more likely to garner philanthropic gifts to support scholarships, selective research efforts, and endowed professorships.
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Processes and systems that inhibit faculty productivity and employee satisfaction can be streamlined.
- Increased simplicity – Structures and processes will be simpler and more straightforward, after an anticipated transition period. Examples include:
- Faculty appointment processes will not need to be repeated for someone to teach at the other campus.
- Best practices from one campus can be identified and applied in the other.
- There will be a single accreditation process.
- Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences will not need to start new centers/institutes simply to foster inter-medical school programs.
- Limiting duplication – Combining the medical schools will identify and remove redundancies in many administrative structures, mobilizing personnel and other resources to enhance the school’s primary missions.
- Increased simplicity – Structures and processes will be simpler and more straightforward, after an anticipated transition period. Examples include:
Background
The delivery of health care continues to change and become more complex, and institutions that train the next generation of health care workers must not only be attuned to these changes, but be nimble enough to adapt to changes yet to come and ensure its students are positioned to meet the demands in this decade and beyond.
These dynamics, coupled with an ever-increasing health care worker shortage, represent the foremost reason why Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) began to evaluate the educational structure of its medical schools.
In 2019, a 12-member Future of Academic Medicine Committee with equal representation from New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) was formed to assess options and recommend ways in which further integration might benefit the medical schools and their students, and what the optimal structure might be.
After a year of deliberations, a thorough report on the future of academic medicine at Rutgers University was completed and presented to the Rutgers University Senate Executive Committee. Thereafter, the University Senate forwarded an extensive series of questions to prompt further deliberation and analysis.
In early 2022, following a postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RBHS formally adopted a new strategic plan — “One RBHS: The Way Forward” — to guide the next five years. The plan’s Unifying Theme Goal 4: Enabling Systems and Structures focuses on assessing the effectiveness of our enabling systems, structures, and processes, with a specific call to “Evaluate options for further collaboration and potential consolidation of medical schools to synergize efforts and maximize outputs.”
With this prompt, along with the University Senate’s questions and a request from university senior leadership and governance bodies to reach some resolution, a logical starting point was established to revive the inquiry into the optimal structure for Rutgers’ medical schools.
University Senate Questions
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- How would an integrated medical school handle student applications, admissions, tuition, and fees?
- Will student enrollment increase?
- What are the metrics for success in a proposed integration?
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- What is the vision for a transformational undergraduate medical education curriculum/program?
- How would integration of the two medical schools align, reconcile, or reimagine the curriculum?
- How will an integrated medical school address clinical placements, pre-clerkship rotations, and clerkships?
- Will students be able to enroll in core classes and/or electives across campuses?
- Will there be a greater emphasis on distance/remote learning?
- Will students be expected to travel between campuses?
- How would an integrated medical school impact the current MD/PhD program?
- What are the metrics for success in a proposed integration?
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- How will the integration of the medical schools ensure the campuses are co-equal?
- What will the impact of an integrated medical school be on our relationships with our primary hospital affiliates, namely University Hospital and the RWJBarnabas Health system?
- How will each campus retain its unique identity and strengths?
- How will faculty governance be implemented?
- What are the metrics for success in a proposed integration?
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- How will an integrated medical school impact faculty recruitment?
- Nomenclature: What will be the name of the new school? The individual campuses?
- What will diplomas say?
- Will school departments be integrated under single chairs or will each campus retain a local chair?
- Will the integration result in higher medical school rankings?
- What is the anticipated cost of integrating the medical schools?
- What is the process to review and approve an integration of the medical schools?
- Who will be consulted: Students? Faculty? Alumni? Government officials? Senate? Boards? The Liaison Committee on Medical Education? Local communities? Hospital affiliates? Donors?
- Will each school/campus budget be held harmless and receive comparable funding once integrated, as in prior years?
- What are the budget, revenue, revenue cycle, and funds flow models for an integrated medical school?
- How will administrative systems such as information technology and grants management be integrated?
- What is the proposed administrative structure of an integrated medical school?
- What is the appropriate role and reporting relationship between medical school departments and RBHS research-based institutes vis-à-vis the integrated medical school?
- Will there be more or less faculty and staff in an integrated medical school?
- How will the integration improve administrative infrastructure on the two campuses?
- How will the clinical practices be organized in an integrated medical school?
- Will clinical services be provided locally, regionally, or both?
- What is the role of the dean?
- What is a proposed timeline to accomplish a medical school integration?
- How will parking and transportation between the two campuses be addressed?
- Will faculty be expected to travel between campuses?
- How will faculty promotions and tenure decisions be implemented?
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- How will the integration improve research infrastructure on the two campuses?
- What is the appropriate role and reporting relationship between medical school departments and RBHS research-based institutes vis-à-vis the integrated medical school?
- How will access to research cores be addressed?
- Will integration enhance faculty competition for research funding or inhibit it as limited submission National Institutes of Health grant applications will only be one school applying versus two?
- What will be the impacts on federal grants and any limitations on aid for a larger school?
Evaluation Process
In September 2022, an announcement was made regarding the revival of an inquiry started in 2019 to determine the optimal level of integration between NJMS and RWJMS.
Committees of faculty, students, and staff from both schools were assembled to address key questions posed by the University Senate related to admissions, curriculum, and maintaining campus identity and culture. The current set of questions was derived from the original 350 University Senate questions presented in March 2020. Some of the original questions were duplicates, overlapped with other questions, and in some cases were related to topics timely only for 2020. The questions were consolidated, refined, and categorized in collaboration with the leadership of the University Senate during the summer of 2022.
The committees received RBHS Chancellor Brian Strom’s charge in October 2022 and began their work assessing ways in which enhanced cooperation and coordination might be advantageous for the medical schools, students, patients, and host communities.
NJMS Dean Robert L. Johnson, RWJMS Dean Amy Murtha, and Chancellor Strom were tasked with developing responses to those questions that are administrative in nature, and worked with the RBHS Office of Research to answer those questions particular to research.
ECG Management Consultants, a national consulting firm with expertise in academic health centers, was retained to facilitate the committees’ work. Janis Orlowksi, an expert on medical school administration who until recently was the chief medical officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, also consulted on the project.
The committees completed their work and on January 31, 2023, Chancellor Strom presented the University Senate with the report that further develops a vision for the future of academic medicine at Rutgers University. This report represents the collective work product of numerous faculty, staff, students, community members, and administrators of NJMS, RWJMS, and RBHS and provides responses to the questions posed by the University Senate.
Evaluation Committees
Committees of faculty, students, and staff from both schools were assembled to answer key questions posed by the University Senate related to admissions, curriculum, and maintaining campus identity and culture.
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Members
- Co-Chair: H. Liesel Copeland – Assistant Dean for Admissions, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Co-Chair: George F. Heinrich – Associate Dean, Admissions, New Jersey Medical School
- Gloria A. Bachmann – Associate Dean, Women’s Health, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Joshua M. Kaplan – Associate Professor, Medicine, New Jersey Medical School
- Natalia L. Kellam – Student, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Sonia C. Laumbach – Assistant Dean, Student Affairs, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Payal V. Shah – Student, New Jersey Medical School
- Maria Soto-Greene – Executive Vice Dean, New Jersey Medical School
- Carol A. Terregino – Senior Associate Dean, Education and Academic Affairs, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Danitza M. Velazquez – Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, New Jersey Medical School
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Members
- Co-Chair: Maria Soto-Greene – Executive Vice Dean, New Jersey Medical School
- Co-Chair: Carol A. Terregino – Senior Associate Dean, Education and Academic Affairs, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Rashi Aggarwal – Vice Chair Residency Training Director and Professor, Psychiatry, New Jersey Medical School
- Alla Fayngersh – Assistant Professor, Medicine, New Jersey Medical School
- Meigra (Maggie) Myers Chin – Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Amir George – Student, New Jersey Medical School
- Brooke K. Phillips – Student, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Archana Pradhan – Associate Dean for Clinical Education, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Monica Roth – Professor, Pharmacology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Michael E. Shapiro – Professor, Surgery, New Jersey Medical School
- Ranita Sharma – Executive Vice Chair and Associate Professor, Medicine, and Residency Program Director, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Christin Traba – Associate Dean for Education, New Jersey Medical School
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Members
- Co-Chair: Charletta A. Ayers – Associate Professor, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Co-Chair: Melissa B. Rogers – Associate Professor, New Jersey Medical School
- Shareif Abdelwahab – Student, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Bill Arnold – President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
- Detlev Boison – Professor, Neurosurgery, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Alison L. Clarke – Program Coordinator, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- C. Roy Epps – President/Chief Executive Officer, Civic League of Greater New Brunswick
- Carmen L. Guzman-McLaughlin – Senior Director, Administration, New Jersey Medical School
- George Hampton – Retired Vice President, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
- Michael Kelly – Associate Dean, Graduate Education, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Neil Kothari – Associate Dean, Graduate Medical Education, New Jersey Medical School
- M. Chiara Manzini – Associate Professor, Child Health Institute of New Jersey, Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Mary Maples – Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, University Hospital
- Ana M. Natale Pereira – Associate Professor, Medicine, New Jersey Medical School
- J. Patrick O’Connor – Associate Professor,Orthopedics, New Jersey Medical School
- Jon L. Oliver – Assistant Dean,Information Technology, School of Communication and Information
- Timothy Pistell – Student, New Jersey Medical School
- Nikolaos Pyrsopoulos – Professor and Chief, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, New Jersey Medical School
- Arnold Rabson – Director, Child Health Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Frank Sonnenberg – Chief Informatics Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Ian Whitehead – Professor of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School
Single Accreditation
To create a stronger medical education program that is well-equipped to meet the challenges of the future, the Rutgers University Board of Governors voted on July 10, 2023 to pursue a single medical school accreditation between NJMS and RWJMS. The integration of the medical schools will create co-equal bodies under a single accreditation to be known as Rutgers School of Medicine.
The decision to integrate the medical schools was not made lightly, and it entailed a period of thorough evaluation, thoughtful consideration, and collaboration with our internal and external communities, outlined above.
The primary objective of single medical school accreditation is to create a stronger, more innovative institution with enhanced educational opportunities, expanded research endeavors, and improved patient care. Simultaneously, this endeavor aims to elevate the reputation of the school.
Under a single accreditation, the schools will largely maintain their individual identities and function separately as two equal campuses, each with its own co-dean and separate financial and administrative structures.
Even so, this integration presents opportunities for growth, efficiency, and improved collaboration—and, most importantly, it will significantly enhance medical education for students. Integration will also improve and expand clinical care for our communities. Rutgers School of Medicine will continue to have a strong commitment to University Hospital in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, with the relationship remaining unchanged.
RWJMS and NJMS are committed to a transparent, collaborative process.
Dean Johnson and Dean Murtha will be leading the process to achieve accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, conducted in a manner that promotes equitable representation and allocation of resources and allows many opportunities for medical school community members to contribute to the vision.
There will be continued consultation with the University Senate, faculty, staff, students, community members and outside organizations on matters such as admissions, curriculum, campus culture, accreditation, residency placements, fiscal matters, administrative structure, governance, nomenclature, and branding.
The medical school communities will continue to be updated on developments and opportunities for them to contribute to the reconfiguration of medical education at Rutgers.
Timeline
Phase 1
- January 2020: Future of Academic Medicine (FAM) report explores integration of NJMS and RWJMS.
- Spring 2020: University Senate responds to FAM report with questions about integration. COVID-19 pandemic pauses the discussion.
- January 2022: ONE RBHS 2022–2027 Strategic Plan calls for further evaluation.
- October 2022: RBHS assembles three committees to address key University Senate questions.
- November/December 2022: Committees develop related responses and recommendations for assigned questions with input from medical school communities.
Phase 2
- January 2023: RBHS leadership synthesizes committee outcomes and presents report to University Senate.
- Spring 2023: University Senate reviews and responds to report.
- July 2023: University Board of Governors votes to pursue single accreditation.
Messages to Our Communities
A Message from Deans Amy Murtha and Robert Johnson Regarding the Medical School Integration
September 5, 2023
RWJMS Dean Amy Murtha and NJMS Dean Robert Johnson share an update about the medical school integration, including responses to questions about the single accreditation process.
Letter to the Editor: Merged med school will keep commitment to Newark | The Star Ledger
August 16, 2023
Chancellor Strom reaffirms our commitment to improving health outcomes in Essex County as we begin the process of creating the combined Rutgers School of Medicine.
Watch: University Hospital president discusses medical school integration
August 16, 2023
In an interview with NorthJersey.com, Edward Jimenez, president and chief executive officer at University Hospital in Newark, discusses the integration between Rutgers' medical schools.
The Star Ledger: Medical School Deans Op-Ed
August 1, 2023
RWJMS Dean Amy Murtha and NJMS Dean Robert Johnson say that with the integration, their schools will become stronger, more innovative, and offer expanded research endeavors and improved patient care.
Rutgers School of Medicine Initial Next Steps
July 21, 2023
NJMS Dean Robert Johnson and RWJMS Dean Amy Murtha provide an update about initial next steps in the integration between the two medical schools.
More Information About Medical School Integration
July 10, 2023
NJMS Dean Robert Johnson and RWJMS Dean Amy Murtha provide an update about the integration between the two medical schools.
Rutgers Board of Governors Approves Single Medical School Accreditation
July 10, 2023
The integration of New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School will create co-equal bodies under a single accreditation to be known as Rutgers School of Medicine.
Chancellor's Letter to the Rutgers University Senate
July 7, 2023
Chancellor Strom addresses questions from the Rutgers University Senate regarding the integration of New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Attachments:
- Draft Proposed Resolution Establishing Rutgers School of Medicine
- Report to Rutgers University Board of Governors on the Development of Integrated Medical School Model
- Examination of Potential Residency Placement Concerns Due to Integrated Medical School
Senate Report - Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine
January 31, 2023
Chancellor Strom announces the report on the future of academic medicine at Rutgers University has been presented to the University Senate.
New Website and Feedback Form for Medical School Evaluation Process
November 17, 2022
Dean Johnson, Dean Murtha, and Chancellor Strom announce the new Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine website.
Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine: Next Steps
November 4, 2022
RBHS announces next steps as it explores the optimal level of integration and cooperation between New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine: Chancellor's Charge to the Committees
November 2022
Chancellor Strom addresses the Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine committees as they embark on the task of responding to the Rutgers University Senate's questions.
Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine at Rutgers University
September 21, 2022
Following a pause due to the pandemic, RBHS will resume the process of exploring opportunities for further collaboration between Rutgers’ two medical schools.
Report: The Future of Academic Medicine at Rutgers
January 10, 2020
Read the report to the RBHS Chancellor from the Future of Academic Medicine Committee.
Town Halls
Faculty, staff, students, residents, and fellows are invited to a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, September 19, that will discuss the LCME accreditation process and the medical education curriculum.
Following a welcome and introduction by Deans Robert L. Johnson and Amy P. Murtha will be speakers from both New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Past Town Hall Meetings
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In March 2023, Rutgers Health leadership invited members of the public to two town halls that presented an overview of the Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine process and provided opportunities for the public to offer input.
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Deans Johnson and Murtha invited faculty, staff, students, residents and fellows to the first in a series of town hall discussions on August 29, 2023, to examine our individual schools' mission and vision, and respond to inquiries.
Community Input
Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine at Rutgers
We encourage and welcome comments on any aspect of transitioning to a single medical school accreditation, including perceived advantages and challenges of this organizational model, recommendations for the planning process, and other areas of concern and opportunity that should be considered.
Medical School Integration FAQs
Accordion Content
Below are some frequently asked questions and answers about the medical school integration.
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Medical school integration is being pursued to create a stronger, more innovative institution that offers enhanced educational and research opportunities. By aligning and not competing, we create a hub of biomedical and health sciences education, research, and clinical care that will allow us to better serve our communities. With one Rutgers School of Medicine, we can expand academic programs, improve infrastructure, and enrich learning environments.
In the past, the two medical schools have been competitors for talent and resources. Now, we can be allies in attracting students, grants, and faculty who are pioneers in their fields.
Additionally, as the state university we have an obligation to the residents of New Jersey to lead in transformative healthcare delivery. Through the creation of Rutgers School of Medicine, with campuses in Newark and New Brunswick, we will have an academic healthcare delivery enterprise that will better serve all New Jersey communities.
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An integrated model of medical education will position Rutgers School of Medicine as one of the leading public medical schools in the country and create an unparalleled hub of biomedical and health sciences education, research, and clinical care.
When complete, the integration envisions a medical school that enjoys a national reputation greater than the sum of its parts, amplifying Rutgers’ role as a leader in twenty-first century medical education.
- First, it will enhance our ability to attract top talent with an enhanced national reputation and elevated ranking.
- Second, by leveraging research opportunities, the Rutgers School of Medicine will become a leader in innovation and attract more federal and industry funding for competitive clinical trials.
- Third, it will allow Rutgers to expand specialty hospital care and offer more patient services to reduce health care inequities. Aligned medical schools will expand opportunities for students, providing innovative experiences on both campuses.
Read more about the benefits of integration.
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Rutgers School of Medicine envisions a single LCME accreditation with coequal campuses in Newark and New Brunswick.
In the years leading up to the LCME accreditation, we will work under a co-dean model but anticipate that this leadership structure will be revisited. While Rutgers School of Medicine would have common goals and objectives for the medical education program, each campus could have different curricula and would be able to preserve local culture and values and academic strengths. Each campus would remain committed to their communities. We would look to combine only those components of each medical school that yield a positive outcome for all, enhancing collaboration. Growth and investment in clinical care, research, and education is the priority.
Each school would maintain the current affiliation with their principal teaching hospitals. Decisions about departmental structure and leadership would be based on the size and complexity of the departments, and we would seek input from the communities they serve.
The structure of medical education will be formulated with wide input from our internal and external communities over the next few years.
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The decision to integrate the two medical schools is complete. We are now in the next phase of the process, which is to seek combined accreditation. It is anticipated that the first class of the new Rutgers School of Medicine will be enrolled in the 2028 academic year.
Over the next five years, we will be aligning our work to achieve accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). Our work will be conducted in a way that promotes equitable representation and allows opportunities for all medical school community members to contribute to the vision.
Together, we will work to ensure LCME timelines and guidelines are fulfilled while upholding the primacy of education within the institution and quality outcomes for its students and graduates.
Read more about the process.
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Regular updates and communications regarding the integration will be provided through official channels, including email notifications, the school websites and integration website, and town hall meetings and events.
We encourage all members of the medical school communities to stay engaged and share their feedback during this transformative process. There will be numerous opportunities to provide feedback through surveys, town halls, committee participation, and more.
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Our commitment to University Hospital in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick remains strong, and our relationship with these institutions will remain unchanged.
University Hospital Newark will continue as the principal teaching hospital of NJMS. Similarly, RWJMS will maintain its ties with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital will, subject to associated contractual agreements, and remain the principal teaching hospital of RWJMS.
The integration will only enhance our community impact in Newark and New Brunswick.
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The physical locations of the medical schools will remain the same with two, coequal campuses in Newark and New Brunswick. No one campus will be subordinate to the other.
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The specific implementation of the envisioned medical schools still requires more detailed planning about admissions, curriculum, campus culture, accreditation, residency placements, fiscal matters, administrative structure, governance, nomenclature, branding, and faculty affairs practices.
As we embark on the five-year LCME accreditation application process, there will be additional planning and faculty committee work, consultations with LCME and AAMC, and continued consultation with the university senate, faculty, staff, students, and community members including alumni via town halls, focus groups, and other avenues for contribution to determine admissions and curriculum.
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Closer collaboration on the educational mission offers a broader scope and scale of teaching talent, learning content, and clinical experiences that will benefit educators and learners.
Benefits for students include:
- Broader and more consistent educational experiences – Medical students will have access to a wider array of clinical clerkships/electives and types of patient experiences, without the current administrative barriers to crossing over the two schools. Graduate Medical Education (GME) will also be integrated to form larger, stronger, and more uniform programs that are able to offer broader clinical experiences to trainees.
- More convenient learning opportunities – A broader array of lectures (and lecture topics) will be available from faculty at both campuses, but discussion sections may remain regionally defined.
- Enhancement of MD/PhD programs – Over time, the individual programs could be combined, taking advantage of the scientific strengths of both schools, higher prestige, and access to more faculty and funding, and thereby becoming more nationally visible and more competitive for grants.
- Developing and sharing best practices – There will be an enhanced opportunity for innovation in education across both campuses, comparing approaches, and subsequently sharing and implementing innovations from one campus to the other.
Once integrated, students will not be forced to attend one campus over another nor will they be forced to rotate at the other campus for clerkship.
With an estimated integration finishing in the fall of 2028, current medical school students will not be impacted from the integration. Throughout the duration of the five-year process, students will experience a smooth transition into the new integrated medical school. Curriculum, academic calendar, and clinical rotations will continue as planned.
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The results of the data collected by Rutgers Health and ECG consulting firm indicate that the risk of negatively impacting student placement is low. In this process, they collected and reviewed detailed residency match data for NJMS and RWJMS graduates for 2018 through 2022 and surveyed GME programs. Given this initial review, integrating NJMS and RWJMS in and of itself would not limit GME opportunities for graduating medical students. Despite this review, we share this as a priority area that will need to be considered as we create the structure of the medical school.
The bottom line is that competition for students graduating from U.S.-based allopathic schools is fierce and focused on individual qualifications, with no explicit or implicit limits on the number of residents selected from a given school.
We would engage with you, our community stakeholders, to create a structure that would minimize this concern and modify as necessary with stakeholder input.
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The integration will continue with the same day-to-day commitment to research, patient care, leadership in education, and community service on both campuses of Rutgers School of Medicine.
NJMS is not moving to New Brunswick or vice versa, nor are we allocating inequitably resources from either medical school.
The integration aims to retain and integrate the talented faculty and staff from both institutions. The combined expertise will foster collaboration and create a more dynamic and supportive academic environment.