A group of people posing for a photo  Description automatically generated

Meet Thaddaeus Diggs: RBHS Community Engagement Director

Community service has been a fundamental cornerstone of faculty and student life at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School for decades. NJMS students, faculty, and staff recognize the value of partnering with the community to achieve better health outcomes for local families.

Thaddaeus Diggs, RBHS director of community engagement (pictured above on the far right) has been tasked with assisting Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) with expanding local awareness about the community outreach activities currently underway.

Mr. Diggs was appointed to this post in 2019 and has been assisting NJMS and other RBHS schools in this new role by bringing more awareness to the history and vast volume of community outreach that supports the health and wellness of the local communities served by NJMS.

Mr. Diggs is no stranger to RBHS, having most recently served as University Hospital's director of government relations. Diggs was involved in local stakeholder engagement to further the mission of the hospital for more than seven years. Prior to working at University Hospital, he served as the manager of operations for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in the department public, government and community affairs for eight years.

In addition to helping NJMS enhance academic and clinical awareness in the community, Mr. Diggs is also working to build stronger relationships with key local stakeholders, by expanding visibility through direct and indirect communications with key members of the community.

Recently, Mr. Diggs partnered with the NJMS Clinical Research Center to help advance a vaccine research community engagement strategy, playing an integral role by coordinating strategic meetings with various stakeholders.

Diggs was also instrumental in efforts to organize a 2019 meeting between NJMS leaders and dignitaries from Nelson Mandela University. The purpose of this visit was to share information about NJMS' best practices for effective local community engagement.

Outside of RBHS, Mr. Diggs is extremely active in the Newark community. He currently serves as a member of the Mary Eliza Mahoney Health Center Board of Commissioners, the City of Newark's Brick City Peace Collective, the Newark Branch of the NAACP, Newark Municipal Council Health Committee. Previously, he also served on Mayor Baraka's Guaranteed Income Taskforce.

To learn more about community engagement at NJMS and RBHS at large, contact Thaddaeus Diggs at thad.diggs@rutgers.edu.