Rowan University and Cooper University Hospital have initiated a search for the founding dean of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. The dean will serve as the chief executive and intellectual leader of the medical school and is expected to have a dramatic impact on the future of health care delivery and education in South Jersey.
“We’re seeking a dynamic individual who has demonstrated extraordinary vision and leadership to guide the medical school to national prominence,” said Rowan University President Dr. Donald Farish. “We’re not interested in creating a generic medical school. It is our responsibility to the region—and to the state—to build Cooper Medical School into one of the very best in the nation. We are seeking an exceptional dean to lead us.”
Last June, Rowan University and Cooper University Hospital formed a new partnership to establish a medical school in Camden. The medical school will be the first four-year allopathic program ever offered in South Jersey—and the first new medical school in New Jersey in the past 30 years.
“In addition to having the opportunity and privilege of building a medical school from the ground up, the dean will play a vital role in the redevelopment of Camden,” said George E. Norcross, III, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Cooper University Hospital. “A world-class program, located on the Health Sciences Campus adjacent to the hospital, the planned $100 million building that will house the medical school will spur economic activity at a time when the city has renewed hope and promise.”
Currently, Rowan University and Cooper University Hospital are preparing for the accreditation process by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). That process, which will last two to three years, must be completed before the medical school can admit its first class of 40 students in 2012.
The founding dean will shepherd the two institutions through the accreditation process, oversee completion of the medical school’s new home in Camden, build a faculty and staff, and expand and solidify the Rowan-Cooper relationship.
“We expect that this position will attract national—and even international—attention from leaders in the health care field,” said John Sheridan Jr., president and chief executive officer of Cooper Health System. “In addition to educating future physicians, the Cooper Medical School will provide a base for cutting-edge research in the fields of medicine, biomedicine and technology that will translate into the most advanced treatment options for patients.”
Rowan and Cooper have retained Witt/Kieffer, an Illinois-based search firm specializing in executive searches in health care and higher education, to conduct a national search for the founding dean.
For information about the search for the founding dean of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, visit www.rowan.edu/CooperMedicalSchool.