Hackensack Meridian Health and Seton Hall University (SHU) have partnered in the redevelopment of the former Roche Pharmaceuticals site in Nutley and Clifton, turning it into a state-of-the-art campus for the first new private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years – the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.
Founded by Hackensack Meridian Health and supported by SHU and its graduate nursing and allied health education programs, the School of Medicine emphasizes an innovative, holistic approach to medical education and envisions improved outcomes through an increased focus on overall health. The partnership’s goal is to address New Jersey’s shortage of healthcare providers while also producing exceptional physicians who are as skilled in the biomedical sciences as they are in the behavioral, social and health system sciences. Among the school’s less traditional strategies to achieve these goals are including nurses and other health professionals in the same courses and training as future doctors, and emphasizing a team approach to healthcare provisioning.
The 500,000-square-foot project involved the adaptive reuse of a multi-story research laboratory building on the former Roche Pharmaceutical site to include offices, classrooms, a library and an auditorium. The centerpiece is a multi-modal virtual healthcare training center featuring spaces to teach clinical and nursing skills and provide physiology, occupational therapy, activities of daily living (ADL), and health assessment bed laboratories.
The $70-million project included $50 million in construction costs, and involved more than 600 tradespeople. When the doors opened in July 2018, the medical school employed more than 60 administrators, staff and faculty. The second matriculating class, of more than 90 students – selected from among some 5,000 applications – was accepted last summer.
To ensure top students can afford an excellent medical education, the Hackensack Meridian Health Board of Trustees established a $100-million endowment fund for school scholarships.
ARCHITECT
FX Collaborative with
CO Architects
New York, NY/
Los Angeles, CA
BUILDER
Torcon
Red Bank
NOMINATOR
Robert C. Garrett, FACHE,
Chief Executive Officer,
Hackensack Meridian
Health
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