NJMS History and Highlights
Founded in 1954, New Jersey Medical School is the state’s oldest medical school.
1955
Charles L. Brown, MD, is appointed founding dean of SHCMD and leads an initiative to attract outstanding faculty to the new school.
Construction of teaching and clinical facilities begins at Jersey City Medical Center. A 15-story outpatient building is converted into laboratories and classrooms.
1956
SHCMD admits its first class of 80 students.
1964
Governor Richard Hughes signs the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry Act of 1964, and the state of New Jersey purchases SHCMD for $4 million.
1968
The Newark Agreements determine that NJCMD will move to Newark to provide public-sector healthcare services, recruit minority students and create opportunities for local residents.
NJCMD purchases land in Newark to construct interim facilities. NJCMD assumes operation of Newark City Hospital as the school's principal teaching facility, renaming it Harrison S. Martland Medical Center.
1969
NJCMD completes the move to Newark.
1971
The Housing Authority of Newark conveys 45.7 acres of Newark's Central Ward to construct a permanent campus for CMDNJ.
The entering class of 113 students includes an unprecedented 28 minority students, demonstrating the school's commitment to diversity.
1973
Construction of the Medical Sciences Building begins in Newark.
1976
The Newark campus is dedicated.
1977
Construction of College Hospital begins.
NJMS moves into the new Medical Sciences Building, which has 606,000 square feet of classrooms, research laboratories and faculty space.
1979
College Hospital opens, replacing Martland Hospital.
1981
College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey becomes University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
1982
College Hospital becomes University Hospital.
1991
The Hispanic Center of Excellence is established by Maria Soto-Greene, MD, a leading advocate of diversity and inclusion at NJMS.
NJMS holds its first convocation to celebrate the success and accomplishments of its graduating students.
1992
NJMS opens the Doctors Office Center at University Hospital.
1994
NJMS becomes the second medical school in the U.S. to host a White Coat Ceremony.
1996
The Graduate Medical Education Consortium is established to coordinate the graduate medical education programs of NJMS, University Hospital, Hackensack University Medical Center and Morristown Memorial Hospital.
1999
FOCUS Community Health Center is established by Dr. Waldemar Johanson to help address the healthcare needs of the growing Latino community of Newark.
2002
A groundbreaking ceremony marks the establishment of the NJMS/UH Cancer Center.
The Behavioral Science Building opens.
The International Center for Public Health (ICPH) opens as the new home for the Public Health Research Institute (PHRI).
2004
The NJMS 50th anniversary celebration begins.
The 175-member class of 2008 is chosen from a group of 3,853 applications, 74 percent of whom are from out-of-state.
The Healthcare Foundation Center for Humanism and Medicine is founded at NJMS, with a grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.
The NJMS Jubilee Curriculum establishes a learning framework, based on the core values of the new Humanism Center, that fosters clinical and academic excellence, integrity, ethical and professional behavior, and compassion.
2005
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) renews NJMS' accreditation for a maximum term of eight years.
The NJMS 50th anniversary time capsule is dedicated.
Robert L. Johnson, MD, is appointed interim dean of NJMS
NJMS receives nearly $56 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an increase of approximately 20 percent over the previous year.
100 percent of fourth-year NJMS students pass the Step 2 Clinical Skills test administered for the first time as part of the US Medical Licensing Examination.
2006
NJMS faculty Dr. David Alland receives more than $7 million from the Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation organization, and the NIH to develop a rapid tuberculosis test.
2007
NJMS commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Newark Riots.
Virtual microscopy technology comes to NJMS.
NJMS becomes an iTunes University.
122 NJMS faculty-physicians make the prestigious New Jersey Monthly's Top Doctors List.
NJMS enters into clinical academic affiliation agreements with Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Newark Beth Israel Hospital and Saint Joseph's Regional Medical Center.
2008
A 97 percent residency match rate for graduating physicians at NJMS far exceeds the national average of 94.2 percent.
NJMS students, faculty and staff take part in the inaugural Komen Race for the Cure event in Newark sponsored by the North Jersey Affiliates of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
A $15.6 million, five-year grant from the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is awarded to NJMS assistant professor Abraham Pinter, MD, one of 10 U.S. researchers developing preventive HIV vaccines.
NJMS researchers receive a total of $45.8 million in support from the NIH.
2009
NJMS celebrates its 55th anniversary.
42 NJMS faculty members are listed in New York Magazine as Best Doctors.
NJMS joins a new Northeast Regional Health Career Opportunity Program to help minority and disadvantaged youth pursue careers in medicine and science.
NJMS/UH Cancer Center becomes a National Cancer Institute-designated Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program, one of 14 institutions nationwide to earn this distinction.
2010
NJMS celebrates the 50th anniversary of the graduation of its inaugural class: The Class of 1960.
Dr. Peter W. Carmel, founding chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery, becomes president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA).
A rapid tuberculosis test developed by Dr. David Alland, NJMS Chief of the Division of Infectious Disease, is endorsed for worldwide use by the World Health Organization.
NJMS receives two $15 million grants from the NIH which advances research in HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development and Addresses infrastructure improvements.
100 percent of the members of NJMS' Class of 2010 who participated in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) achieve postgraduate placement.
2011
Dr. Johnson is appointed as the eighth dean of NJMS.
All members of NJMS class of 2011 who participated in the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) achieve postgraduate placement.
Dr. Joel DeLisa, professor and chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, is elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academics.
NJMS launches its "Institutional-Self Study" in preparation for the renewal of its accreditation with the LCME.
2012
NJMS student LeAnne Roberts begins her term as chair of the Medical Student Section of the American Medical Association.
A research team at NJMS' Institute for Genomic Medicine develops new DNA sequencing tests for diseases like cystic fibrosis.
2013
NJMS becomes part of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, when the New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act goes into effect.
Brian Strom is named as the first chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) by Rutgers University President Robert L. Barchi.
NJMS creates the Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases (I3D) to pursue novel approaches to detect, treat and prevent diseases caused by infectious agents and harmful inflammation.
New Jersey Medical School welcomes 178 newly minted medical students during its Barbara and Norman Seiden White Coat Ceremony, the first since becoming a school within Rutgers University.
The 16th edition of Castle Connolly Top Doctors: New York Metro Area includes 45 NJMS physicians, from a wide range of specialties, who are named among the best in their respective fields.
A study published in Nature Genetics by a NJMS researcher sheds new light on tuberculosis drug resistance, showing that TB-causing bacteria can accumulate mutations in a stepwise fashion.
A team of NJMS researchers publish findings in PLOS ONE showing the topical anti-fungal drug Ciclopirox causes HIV-infected cells to "commit suicide" by jamming up the cells' mitochondria.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education renews NJMS' accreditation for a maximum term of eight years, noting the school's commitment to service learning, diversity, and community engagement.
2015
NJMS becomes New Jersey's leading recipient of NIH funding and has remained the state's top recipient of research funding every year since.
The Rutgers 2030 Physical Master Plan recommends the Medical Sciences Building for significant renovation, launching a years-long modernization effort of the school's iconic teaching and research facility.
2016
The creation of Rutgers Health is authorized as a statewide academic health care provider organization to revolutionize patient care across New Jersey.
President Obama gives the 250th commencement address at Rutgers University.
Rutgers University celebrates its 250th anniversary.
2018
RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers University announced the official launch of a public-private partnership.
NJMS announces the creation of its three-year primary-care MD program, with the first matriculants entering the program in 2019.
2019
NJMS Dean Dr. Johnson is appointed interim dean of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), becoming the first dean in history to oversee two medical schools at once.
The Future of Academic Medicine task force is established by Chancellor Strom to make recommendations about the future of collaboration, or potential integration, of NJMS and RWJMS.
The Herbert W. Nickens Award, from the Association of American Medical Colleges, is awarded to Dr. Soto-Greene for her contributions to health care equity and justice in medical education.
2020
The NJMS Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases established a Center for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, led by Dr. David Alland, to serve as an institutional hub for COVID-19 research activities and information dissemination.