RBHS 10th Anniversary

The New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act of 2012 transferred much of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) to Rutgers University. This led to the formation of RBHS and the designation of University Hospital as independent of the university, but the principal teaching hospital for Newark-based RBHS schools. The same year, Brian L. Strom became the inaugural chancellor of RBHS.

Rutgers School of Dental Medicine celebrated the grand opening of its dental specialty center, which integrates state-of-the-art patient care in one clinic. The center was completed with $10 million in state funding and an additional $3 million in funds to match the state grant. In 2018, their research facilities were expanded with $16 million in state funding, which also included an expansion of the Center for Oral Biology.

RWJBarnabas Health will invest more than $1 billion in medical research and education at Rutgers over the next two decades to create a new statewide academic health system.

Plans begin to fully upgrade and modernize the Medical Science Building in Newark, the hub of the New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) campus. The projected $600 million project will transform the RBHS Newark Campus providing the platform we need to remain a destination for the highest caliber students, faculty, and staff.

RBHS made significant contributions to combat the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, including developing a rapid test to detect new emerging coronavirus variants, training contact tracers, conducting adult and pediatric vaccine clinical trials at NJMS and RWJMS, administering vaccines at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, working to expand access to COVID-19 testing for underserved and vulnerable communities, and more.

The School of Health Professions added a new Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy Assistant degree program, which will meet the increasing demand and accreditation requirements for highly trained occupational therapy assistants. In 2021, SHP added two professional graduate programs: a Master's in Speech-Language Pathology and a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy.

RBHS launched the Strategic Plan 2022-2027, One RBHS: The Way Forward, with the goal to realize the collective vision of a multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and multifaceted organization in which the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. One RBHS: The Way Forward is the second strategic plan of RBHS, following the inaugural 2014 plan.

Rutgers College of Nursing and Rutgers School of Nursing in Newark were integrated to form Rutgers School of Nursing. Graduate biomedical training programs at Rutgers–New Brunswick and UMDNJ were united under the Rutgers School of Graduate Studies.

News of the tragic death of Tara Hansen from an undetected infection six days after she gave birth at an outlying hospital prompted Rutgers’ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) to develop interprofessional education activities. The campaign was designed to empower women’s voices during pregnancy and birth, and resulted in legislation establishing January 23 each year as Maternal Health Awareness Day in New Jersey to raise awareness of maternal health, safety, and mortality issues.

To increase awareness of the importance of cancer screening, ScreenNJ was developed under the leadership of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Health. It serves as a resource for the general public to find local colorectal and lung screening programs, and to educate them about the types of testing and benefits.

A Rutgers-led team received $29 million from the National Institutes of Health's Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program to translate clinical research into patient care and treatment. The New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS) supports clinical and translational research by providing services and resources for investigators, and by working to improve the public’s understanding of science and research. This was the first time New Jersey applied for and was granted a CTSA. 

Researchers from the School of Public Health and the Environmental and Occupational Health Science Institute succeeded in their efforts to include uterine cancer under the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. This victory ensures that individuals, particularly 9/11 first responders and survivors, affected by uterine cancer due to exposure during the WTC disaster, will receive health coverage and support through the program.

Rutgers Health at the HELIX will be the new home to RWJMS and a Rutgers translational research facility equipped with labs to advance the work of 80 research teams. The HELIX, being developed on a site across from the New Brunswick train station, is designed as an innovation center providing businesses, universities and researchers critical space to work, learn, experiment and collaborate.

After a decade of exceptional growth and achievements including more than 3.6 billion dollars in research and sponsored program grants, RBHS and its mission areas of teaching, research, clinical care, and service are now collectively known as Rutgers Health. This significant milestone in our evolution reflects our continued commitment to excellence and answers our strategic plan’s call to adopt a single, unique identity that unites the Rutgers health mission.