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Integration Update: December 2025

December 4, 2025

Dear NJMS Faculty and RWJMS Faculty members,

We are pleased to present to you the bylaws for the future Rutgers School of Medicine (RSM). The development of these bylaws—essential for guiding governance and operations as Rutgers establishes the new RSM— were led and completed by faculty. The following outlines the process used to develop the bylaws. 

To complete this work a Governance and Administration Subcommittee, composed of faculty from both schools (see full subcommittee member list below) and reporting to the LCME Self Study Task Force, was formed in March 2024. The subcommittee is co-chaired by faculty from New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), with support from the Association of American Medical Colleges, whose experts provided guidance on accreditation and best practices.

The subcommittee agreed to draft an entirely new, forward-looking document. They reviewed bylaws from 16 other medical schools to identify common structures and innovative approaches. Monthly meetings from March through September focused on designing bylaws that are simple, clean, innovative, and evergreen, ensuring they remain relevant over time.

The process was faculty-driven, rooted in shared governance principles, and aligned with guiding principles established early in the integration. A draft was completed in September 2024 and submitted to university leadership for review. These bylaws are intended to serve as a foundation for RSM’s mission, faculty involvement, and accreditation requirements.  

The process for developing these bylaws was communicated to our schools’ communities via email in October 2024, distributed to nearly 8,800 individuals across both campuses. It was later presented at the Integration Summit in April 2025, which drew approximately 400 in person and online attendees. The chancellor provided final review in June 2025.

In summary, the process for developing the bylaws ensured that the medical school has its own governance framework tailored to its mission and operations. The bylaws are the product of faculty collaboration within the medical school and signal a strong foundation for ongoing cross-campus engagement.

Our next steps for creating the governance and standing committees for the new school will be shared at upcoming faculty meetings. This is an exciting time for our new school. We look forward to discussing with you and engaging faculty in the governance of RSM.

Sincerely,

Amy P. Murtha, MD
Dean, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

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

Governance and Administration Subcommittee
NJMSRWJMS
Marc Klapholz, MD (co-chair)
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine		Shawna V. Hudson, PhD (co-chair)
Vice Chancellor, Dissemination and Implementation Science
Senior Associate Dean for Population Health Research
Professor and Vice Chair, Research, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Lisa N. Gittens-Williams, MD (co-vice chair)
Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology		Keith Lewis, RPh, MD (co-vice chair)
Vice Dean
Professor and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
Christine M. Gerula, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Program Director, Cardiology Fellowship		Nell Maloney Patel, MD
Professor, Department of Surgery
Nina E. Glass, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery		Ram Mani, MD
Associate Professor of Neurology and Chief, Adult Epilepsy Division
Utz Herbig, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics		Renee Riggs, DO
Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Medicine
Medical Staff President, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Novneet Sahu, MD
Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine and Family Medicine		Alfred F. Tallia, MD, MPH
Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health