Inside Cooper

Cooper University Health Care has been named on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best Maternity Hospitals 2023. This prestigious award is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

“We are honored by this recognition that attests to Cooper’s leadership in perinatal safety and its commitment to providing the highest level of quality and excellence for expectant mothers and their babies,” said Robin Perry, MD, FACOG, chairman and chief, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care has named Barry Hunter, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, its 2023 Cooper Armed Services Person of the Year. Hunter, an emergency medical technician, has been a team member of Cooper EMS Services for eight years.

In addition to his expertise and compassion providing care as a first responder in the City of Camden, Hunter is involved in many community outreach activities, including health education, career mentorship programs, neighborhood clean-up events in Camden, and coordinating the Cooper EMS Services Adopt-A-Family program every holiday season. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care’s affiliated medical school Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) received the esteemed Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Careers in Medicine (CiM) 2023 Excellence in Medical Student Career Advising Award. This recognition underscores CMSRU’s unwavering dedication to guiding medical students in their journey to explore career options, make vital specialty choices, and secure coveted residency positions nationwide. Read more.

For the second consecutive year, a team of physicians and other health professionals from Cooper University Health Care’s Critical Care Medicine department traveled to Tanzania to provide advanced medical education at Muhimbili University and Hospital in Dar Es Salaam. Muhimbili Hospital is the largest hospital in Tanzania, with 1500 beds serving a city with a population of more than 7 million people. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care recently became the first hospital in New Jersey to join an elite group of medical organizations around the country prepared to respond to a radiological event.

The Radiation Injury Treatment Network (RITN) is a national network of more than 75 medical centers nationwide with expertise in the management of casualties from a distant large-scale radiologic incident. Hospitals in the RITN specialize in treating patients with bone marrow failure and acute radiation syndrome. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care recently became the first hospital in New Jersey, and part of a small, select group of academic medical centers in the nation, to launch a Center for Advanced Practice (CAP) to promote and support the role of advanced practice providers in the health care continuum.

Advanced practice providers (APPs) are licensed health care professionals who work collaboratively with physicians and the care team. Read more.

The Cooper Foundation was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, to expand a program that addresses societal barriers to health care access.

The program deploys community health workers (CHWs) in Camden and surrounding counties to improve health care access, reduce inpatient hospital stays and emergency department visits, and increase behavioral and specialty care visits by addressing social barriers to health. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care welcomes four new military team members who will be stationed at Cooper as part of the Army Medical Department Military-Civilian Trauma Team Training (AMCT3) Program.

The four new team members are physician assistant Capt. John Maitha, trauma surgeon Maj. Robert DesPain, MD, emergency medicine physician Maj. Michael Lajeunesse, MD, and paramedic Sgt. 1^st Class Kevin Hayen. Read more.

Doctors at Cooper University Health Care are participating in a Department of Defense-funded study that seeks to improve the survival rate of severely injured patients. Prehospital Analgesia INtervention Trial, or PAIN, is a nationwide, phase-3, prehospital clinical trial being led by the University of Pittsburgh that aims to compare the effect of two intravenous (IV) pain medications administered to severely injured patients in the prehospital course of treatment. Read more.

October 4, 2023, marks the 10^th anniversary of the opening of MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, a clinically integrated partnership between Cooper University Health Care and MD Anderson Cancer Center that has transformed cancer care in the region. With more than a million patient visits, MD Anderson at Cooper has become a leading cancer center providing New Jersey residents with advanced cancer care close to home. Read more.