Newswise — Nutley, NJ – May 10, 2022 – A $1 million gift to the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine from Roger and Carin Ehrenberg will support the school’s Human Dimension program, which benefits both medical students and New Jersey communities. A three-year course, the Human Dimension program provides service-learning experiences and an integrated curriculum for medical students in which they come to understand the many Determinants of Health, including personal, economic and environmental determinants that greatly impact health.
“The Human Dimension program is foundational to the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine’s innovative curriculum,’’ said Robert C. Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. “We are grateful for this generous gift which will help us continue to reinvent medical education to create a physician workforce that will thrive in a new state of health care that focuses as much on prevention as curing illness.’’
Since its start in 2018, 335 students in the Human Dimension program have cared for 257 families in nine communities across five counties, and have taken on 35 community health projects. The program’s 35 faculty members have been integral in the success of the program and in leading another key aspect of it: the Professional Identity Formation curriculum. This training includes reflection, narrative medicine, resilience-building, mindfulness and other skills and activities to support student development as resilient, empathic professionals able to meet the needs of their patients.
“By matching our future physicians to individuals and families from underserved areas, and through interactions over the entire core curriculum, they become involved in all aspects of a family’s life to understand drivers of health outcomes, provide education and navigate community resources,” said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., interim dean of Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
The school’s commitment to improving community health has garnered much recognition, including the American Hospital Association’s NOVA award. The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine was one of just five institutions to be recognized.
“Carin and I have long believed that medical care needs to take into account the whole individual, not merely reported symptoms,” says Roger Ehrenberg. “This means understanding where and how someone lives, what stressors exist and why, and other physical and psychological forces that drive their behaviors.
“Traditional medical training has given short shrift to context, which often has profound impacts on a patient's physical and emotional well-being,” added Ehrenberg. “This is a problem we wanted to address both with respect to training subsequent generations of medical professionals to take these factors into account, but also to develop empathy and perspective by incorporating these kinds of challenges and communities into their medical training and curriculum.”
The gift provided by the Ehrenbergs will cover nearly all annual costs to implement the Human Dimension program for one year, including core faculty and team member positions, a mix of full- and part-time, and include clinical faculty teachers, curriculum development, associate dean supervision and support and operations costs such as interpreter services and community events. Additionally, it will help to establish the Health Services Research Institute. Health Services Research is core to assessing the impact of the Human Dimension program on students and the communities and populations they are caring for. It will focus on the organization, delivery and outcomes of health care in a broad manner and addresses a wide array of areas, including social determinants of health, health outcomes of programs and policies, variations in care, disease specific health care outcomes and costs, diversity, equality and outcomes, payment systems and population and geographic care delivery.
“We are so thankful to Roger and Carin for their compassion and generosity,” says Joyce P. Hendricks, president and chief development officer, Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation. “The COVID-19 pandemic shone a spotlight on the undeniable health care disparities we face as a nation, and programs, like the Human Dimension program, are just one of the ways in which we can truly make headway in establishing equal health care for all.’’
To learn more about how you can make a gift in support of Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, please contact Joseph Burt, executive director, at 551-358-8269, [email protected] or by donating here. To learn more about, or to support Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation, please email [email protected].
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Hackensack Meridian Health assumed its independent operation in July 2020. The school’s vision is that each person in New Jersey, and in the United States, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, will enjoy the highest levels of wellness in an economically and behaviorally sustainable fashion. The School’s unique curriculum focuses on linking the basic science with clinical relevance, through an integrated curriculum in a team-oriented, collaborative environment. The school prides itself on outreach, through programs like the Human Dimension, which is active in communities across New Jersey.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.
Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and JFK University Medical Center in Edison; one university teaching hospital – Ocean University Medical Center in Brick; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; eight community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Old Bridge Medical Center in Old Bridge, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.
Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness center, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 36,000 team members, and 7,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.
The network’s notable distinctions include having more top-ranked hospitals than anyone in New Jersey, as recognized by U.S. News & World Report, 2021-22. Hackensack University Medical Center is the only hospital in New Jersey with the #1 adult and children’s hospital rankings.
John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is New Jersey's best cancer center, as recognized by U.S. News & World Report, 2021-22. This premier cancer center is also the largest and most comprehensive center dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, management, research, screenings, and preventive care as well as survivorship of patients with all types of cancers. John Theurer Cancer Center is part of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.
Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to ensure that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its campus in Nutley and Clifton. The Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), housed in a fully renovated state-of-the-art facility, seeks to translate current innovations in science to improve clinical outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases and other life-threatening and disabling conditions.
Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies. To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH FOUNDATION
Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3), is the philanthropic division of Hackensack Meridian Health, a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. The foundation oversees fundraising for the network’s three academic medical centers, two children’s hospitals and six community-based medical center foundations, as well as key initiatives, programs and services offered by Hackensack Meridian Health, including behavioral health, children’s health, Hackensack Meridian Health’s Center for Discovery & Innovation and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation is recognized as one of the top three nonprofit organizations in New Jersey in the NJBIZ Reader Rankings. Visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org/Donate for more information.
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