About Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine
Learn about the evaluation process, committees, and how to share feedback.
About the Process
For nearly 10 years, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) has thrived on cooperation among its schools and institutes, building an academic health community focused on accomplishment in research, scholarship, education, patient care, and community engagement.
In September 2022, an announcement was made regarding the revival of an inquiry started in 2019 to determine the optimal level of integration between New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS).
Committees of faculty, students, and staff from both schools were assembled to address key questions posed by the Rutgers University Senate related to admissions, curriculum, and maintaining campus identity and culture. The current set of questions was derived from the original 350 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 Senate during the summer of 2022.
The committees have received RBHS Chancellor Brian Strom’s charge and will assess 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 will also be developing responses to those questions that are administrative in nature, and will be working 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, has been 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, has also been asked to consult on the project.
The goal is to provide their preliminary reports in December, to be integrated with feedback from our internal and external constituencies and presented to the University Senate in January.
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.
- Late Spring 2023: University President and Board review report and related feedback to come to a decision.
- If indicated: Submission to LCME review of/consultation for integrated model.
Background
In 2019, a 12-member Future of Academic Medicine Committee with equal representation from New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 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 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, RHBS 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 has been established to revive the inquiry into the optimal structure for Rutgers’ medical schools.
University Senate Questions
Accordion Content
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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 RWJBH 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?
Meet the Committees
Committees of faculty, students, and staff from both schools have been assembled to answer key questions posed by the Rutgers University Senate related to admissions, curriculum, and maintaining campus identity and culture.
Admissions Committee
Co-Chairs
H. Liesel Copeland
George F. Heinrich
Members
- 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
Questions
- 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?
Curriculum Committee
Co-Chairs
Maria Soto-Greene
Carol A. Terregino
Members
- 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
Questions
- 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?
Culture and Identity Committee
Co-Chairs
Charletta A. Ayers
Melissa B. Rogers
Members
- 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
Questions
- 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 RWJBH 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?
Messages to Our Communities
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.
Community Input
Envisioning the Future of Academic Medicine at Rutgers
Help shape the future of academic medicine at Rutgers by providing your input on a particular University Senate question. You may answer as many as you wish by submitting multiple forms.