“Nurse of the Year” recipients recognized at Cooper University Hospital
and Cooper University Hospital Cape Regional

Cooper University Health Care has announced the recipients of the 2025 Nurses of the Year Awards: Raymond Duma, BSN, RN, who works on a medical-surgical unit at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, and Yulia Schaffer, BSN, RN, CMC, CCRN, a critical care nurse at Cooper University Hospital Cape Regional in Cape May Court House. Read more.

Shaan Mody, a senior biology major at Rutgers University–Camden, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Cooper Civic Leadership Award. The award, presented at a recent student ceremony on the Rutgers–Camden campus, honors a student who exemplifies outstanding civic leadership and service to the Camden community.

Established in 2018, the Cooper Civic Leadership Award celebrates students whose work reflects a deep commitment to community engagement and transformative change. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care is proud to announce that Ian Griffiths, RN, BSN, a dedicated clinical nurse manager on a medical-surgical floor at Cooper University Hospital, has been honored as the 2025 Vizient/AACN Nurse Resident of the Year. This prestigious national award recognizes Griffiths’ exceptional leadership, commitment to patient care, and outstanding contributions to the nursing profession.

Throughout his residency, Griffiths demonstrated unwavering dedication to excellence, compassionate care, and advocacy for both his patients and colleagues. Read more.

Swar Vimawala, MD, one of Cooper’s chief residents ,   joined mentors Nadir Ahmad, MD, Head, Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Brian Swendseid, MD, Director, Head and Neck Reconstructive Surgery, on an inspiring surgical mission trip to Karachi, Pakistan to collaborate with their counterparts at Indus Hospital. The mission involved performing complex surgeries, mentoring local surgeons and residents, and building a sustainable partnership with the hospital—a free, charitable institution serving one of Karachi’s poorest areas. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care was recognized in two categories at the 2025 New Jersey Social Innovation Awards, held April 10 in Camden.

The Cooper Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Patient, Family, and Caregiver Support Program received top honors in the Advancing Access to Health category. The program was celebrated for its innovative strategies to reduce health disparities and ensure equitable care for vulnerable populations, including older adults and individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism, behavioral health conditions, and physical disabilities. Read more.

Cooper University Health Care is proud to announce that it has been awarded the Exemplary Partner Award by Rowan College at Burlington County (RCBC) at the 2025 Partner Recognition and Awards Reception. This prestigious honor recognizes Cooper’s steadfast commitment to collaboration, innovation, and student success.

The announcement is another milestone for Cooper, following its recognition as Business Partner of the Year by Camden County Technical School at the end of 2024. Read more.

Cooper University Hospital has been recognized by the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) as a Center of Excellence in Surgical Safety: Smoke Evacuation.  Cooper earned the prestigious Go Clear™ Award for its efforts in eliminating surgical smoke, a hazardous byproduct of laser and electrosurgical procedures that poses significant health risks to those exposed.

This national recognition underscores Cooper’s unwavering commitment to providing a safe and healthy environment for both patients and surgical staff by effectively eliminating the hazards of surgical smoke. Read more.

Cooper’s EMS and Addiction Medicine teams were featured this weekend on “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper” for their pioneering work in connecting people who have suffered life-threatening opioid overdoses with long-term opioid use disorder care. The show’s entire hour was dedicated to the state of the opioid epidemic in America and the ways public health professionals have adapted their response to account for the introduction of fentanyl and other substances into the drug supply. Read more.

Landmark study aims to optimize emergency stroke care and improve outcomes for thousands of thrombectomy patients nationwide

Cooper University Health Care, in collaboration with the University of Iowa Health Care, has been awarded research funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to support a large clinical trial comparing two triage strategies for guiding thrombectomy, a life-saving intervention for patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes, the most severe and disabling subtype of ischemic stroke. Read more.

The moment you see the Center for Healing’s new mobile unit, you can tell something about it is different. Yes, it is a roomy trailer with private space where a patient can receive on-demand medical care with no appointment, and yes, there is space for people to make follow up appointments.

But this is no cold clinical space. Inside, framed art hangs on the walls aside flyers for services and the exterior is awash in pastel greens, blues, and pinks. Read more.