Source: NJ.com
A bold plan has been forged by Seton Hall University and the Hackensack University Health Network to start a private medical school, which is expected to open its doors to students in the fall of 2017.
The school is expected to occupy about 14 acres of the more than 100-acre campus (of) the former Hoffmann La Roche pharmaceutical facility on Route 3 straddling the Clifton-Nutley border. The campus is in the midst of a large-scale environmental cleanup. Roche has pledged to take full responsibility for the cleanup and guaranteed it will turn over an environmentally clean site…
The two institutions will evenly split the cost of operating the school and hope to get additional financing through philanthropy and the state’s Economic Development Authority said Bob Garrett, president and chief executive of Hackensack University Health Network.
After opening with an initial class of 40-60 students, the school would expand to 125-150 students per class. The four-year school will focus on a team approach to medicine with an emphasis on population health and producing primary care specialists in fields like internal medicine, family practice, pediatricians, obstetricians, and gynecologists. It will (also) aim to offset a shortage of healthcare workers in New Jersey, which is expected to grow to 2,500 by 2020.
Seton Hall University already has a college of nursing and allied health schools, along with some graduate medical courses. It is considering moving those programs to the medical school, where those students can learn beside aspiring doctors, physical therapists and others.
The new school would adhere to the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care” issued by the United States Conference of Bishops in 2009…(which)…explains Catholic teachings on contraception, abortion, infertility treatment, and end-of-life interventions…Accreditation of a new medical school is handled by a joint committee of the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Though Seton Hall won’t provide housing around the school, it hopes to see development of new condos or apartments…One unanswered question is whether the school will be tax-exempt as some medical institutions are.
Gov. Chris Christie…pledged his support for the proposal. “We know that by continuing to grow our academic core, we will grow our economic core as well,” said Christie, a graduate of Seton Hall’s law school.