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Cooper Hospital gets leg up on new college
Robert Wood Johnson in city will be phased out
By EILEEN STILWELL Courier-Post Staff June 26, 2009
CAMDEN With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Jon S. Corzine Thursday changed the landscape of higher education and health care in South Jersey.
Through an executive reorganization plan submitted by the governor to the state Legislature on Thursday, Corzine requested the creation of a four-year allopathic medical school on Broadway in Camden that would combine the resources of Cooper University Hospital and Rowan University. The result would be the fourth medical school in New Jersey, and the only one not to be affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
The Kennedy Health System at Stratford is affiliated with UMDNJ's School of Osteopathic Medicine.
As governor, Corzine has the authority to reshuffle alliances among public institutions, though his order must be approved by the Legislature within 60 days.
"This is a major milestone for Cooper, Rowan University, the city of Camden and the entire South Jersey region. This partnership unites two dynamic institutions that are financially strong and culturally and geographically aligned," said George E. Norcross, chairman of the board at Cooper.
Left out of the equation is the New Brunswick-based Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, a division of UMDNJ, which has operated a two-year medical school adjacent to Cooper Hospital since 1981.
The reorganization plan calls for the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to remain in charge of Camden medical students until 2013, and then retrench to its campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway.
"We are appreciative of our 30-year relationship with UMDNJ. This affiliation has positioned Cooper for the endeavor announced today. The flow of state money from Robert Wood Johnson to Rowan will be shifted in phases," said John P. Sheridan, Jr., president and CEO of Cooper Health System.
Included in that is a $9 million state grant that was passed through the city's Economic Recovery Board to UMDNJ to stimulate development.
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is one of eight graduate schools for health care professionals within UMDNJ.
Cooper has lobbied UMDNJ for years to double its size to a four-year medical school in Camden. The association would give Cooper extra firepower against competition from teaching hospitals in Philadelphia, according to management.
South Jersey loses approximately 30,000 patients a year to Pennsylvania hospitals, or $2 billion in health care revenues, according to Cooper projections.
The NJ Council of Teaching Hospitals said the need is clear since New Jersey ranks 33rd of all states in graduating MDs.
Rowan was chosen over UMDNJ because its superior credit rating will allow the Glassboro school to sell more than $100 million in bonds needed to build the medical school and pay the debt service. Those bonds will be backed by the university's assets, including approximately $28 million a year in state money that will flow to Rowan, instead of Robert Wood Johnson, when the transition is complete in 2013. Rowan will own and operate the Camden medical school on Broadway at Benson street, hire academic staff to run it and pay salaries to Cooper doctors to teach classes.
Cooper hopes to have accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in place for what is to be known as the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University when the first class enrolls in 2012.
The plan calls for 100 students per class, which would generate $10 million a year in tuition to Rowan.
UMDNJ's existing classroom building, on Haddon Avenue between the hospital and Coriell Institute, probably will be acquired by Cooper Health System, said Norcross.
Cooper also expects to break ground next month on a $65 million Cancer Institute on a newly acquired site at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Haddon Avenue, adjacent to the South Jersey Health Center, a private nursing home.
Reach Eileen Stilwell at (856) 486-2464 or [email protected]
Robert Wood Johnson in city will be phased out
By EILEEN STILWELL Courier-Post Staff June 26, 2009
CAMDEN With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Jon S. Corzine Thursday changed the landscape of higher education and health care in South Jersey.
Through an executive reorganization plan submitted by the governor to the state Legislature on Thursday, Corzine requested the creation of a four-year allopathic medical school on Broadway in Camden that would combine the resources of Cooper University Hospital and Rowan University. The result would be the fourth medical school in New Jersey, and the only one not to be affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
The Kennedy Health System at Stratford is affiliated with UMDNJ's School of Osteopathic Medicine.
As governor, Corzine has the authority to reshuffle alliances among public institutions, though his order must be approved by the Legislature within 60 days.
"This is a major milestone for Cooper, Rowan University, the city of Camden and the entire South Jersey region. This partnership unites two dynamic institutions that are financially strong and culturally and geographically aligned," said George E. Norcross, chairman of the board at Cooper.
Left out of the equation is the New Brunswick-based Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, a division of UMDNJ, which has operated a two-year medical school adjacent to Cooper Hospital since 1981.
The reorganization plan calls for the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to remain in charge of Camden medical students until 2013, and then retrench to its campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway.
"We are appreciative of our 30-year relationship with UMDNJ. This affiliation has positioned Cooper for the endeavor announced today. The flow of state money from Robert Wood Johnson to Rowan will be shifted in phases," said John P. Sheridan, Jr., president and CEO of Cooper Health System.
Included in that is a $9 million state grant that was passed through the city's Economic Recovery Board to UMDNJ to stimulate development.
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is one of eight graduate schools for health care professionals within UMDNJ.
Cooper has lobbied UMDNJ for years to double its size to a four-year medical school in Camden. The association would give Cooper extra firepower against competition from teaching hospitals in Philadelphia, according to management.
South Jersey loses approximately 30,000 patients a year to Pennsylvania hospitals, or $2 billion in health care revenues, according to Cooper projections.
The NJ Council of Teaching Hospitals said the need is clear since New Jersey ranks 33rd of all states in graduating MDs.
Rowan was chosen over UMDNJ because its superior credit rating will allow the Glassboro school to sell more than $100 million in bonds needed to build the medical school and pay the debt service. Those bonds will be backed by the university's assets, including approximately $28 million a year in state money that will flow to Rowan, instead of Robert Wood Johnson, when the transition is complete in 2013. Rowan will own and operate the Camden medical school on Broadway at Benson street, hire academic staff to run it and pay salaries to Cooper doctors to teach classes.
Cooper hopes to have accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in place for what is to be known as the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University when the first class enrolls in 2012.
The plan calls for 100 students per class, which would generate $10 million a year in tuition to Rowan.
UMDNJ's existing classroom building, on Haddon Avenue between the hospital and Coriell Institute, probably will be acquired by Cooper Health System, said Norcross.
Cooper also expects to break ground next month on a $65 million Cancer Institute on a newly acquired site at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Haddon Avenue, adjacent to the South Jersey Health Center, a private nursing home.
Reach Eileen Stilwell at (856) 486-2464 or [email protected]
