Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Inaugural Event Celebrates Partnership
|
|
|
| VIDEO > Highlights from the inagural event to celebrate the partnership to create the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. | |
|
On Thursday, October 22, 2009, Cooper University Hospital and Rowan University celebrated a historic partnership to fundamentally change medical education, health care and economic progress in South Jersey with the creation of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. The new four-year allopathic medical school will be located in Camden expanding the footprint of the Health Sciences Campus.
In 1975 then-New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne (D) signed legislation to build a medical school in Camden. Almost 35 years later, with the stroke of a pen in June 2009, Governor Jon Corzine executed his visionary Executive Reorganization Plan which created this historic partnership, and launched Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.
“Today marks a pivotal point in the history of these two Institutions. This new medical school marries Rowan’s prowess in the field of Education, particularly the Education of scientists and engineers, with Cooper’s clinical excellence and the clinical training of physicians,” said George E. Norcross, III, Chairman of the Board at Cooper. “Together we will attract the best and brightest students and produce new generations of well-trained, dedicated, and compassionate physicians.”
“Both institutions boast a proud history of professional excellence, educational mastery and community service,” said Dr. Donald Farish, Rowan University President. “We are addressing the critical need for physicians locally and nationally and raising the level of health care and education throughout the region. This symbiotic partnership will fuel vital intellectual and economic growth in the City of Camden and throughout South Jersey.”
The new medical school will be the first four-year allopathic medical school in South Jersey. Currently, Cooper provides clinical training to third and fourth year medical students from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Two reviews by independent consultants for Cooper and UMDNJ concluded that there is a significant need for a four-year medical school in South Jersey, and that Cooper and its medical faculty are well prepared to meet that need.
The newly-established Cooper Medical School of Rowan University will be financed in accordance with Governor Corzine’s Executive Reorganization Plan through the re-allocation of existing budgeted resources. Construction of a medical school building is planned for a full block on the west side of Broadway between Benson and Washington Streets.
Recruitment is underway for a Founding Dean of the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Working committees representing both Cooper and Rowan staff have been formed to address the requirements for self-study documents and database application to be submitted to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to initiate the accreditation process.
The new medical school is part of a $600 million expansion of the Health Sciences Campus in Camden. In December 2008, Cooper completed the largest single construction project in the city in more than 30 years with the opening of a 10-story patient Pavilion. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently opened a Community Based Outpatient Clinic at Broadway and Stevens Street. Planning is also in progress for the construction of a $75 million Cooper Cancer Institute, and neighborhood parks and streetscape improvement project is currently underway. The Health Sciences Campus also includes the Coriell Institute for Medical Research.