Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine fully accredited

Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine capped off a seven-year journey with a major milestone: The school is now fully accredited.

In a Feb. 22 announcement, the Nutley medical school said the Liaison Committee on Medical Education – the accrediting body for all institutions conferring medical doctorate degrees in the U.S. and Canada – bestowed the certification after a “robust” review process that included the entire curriculum, finances, infrastructure and faculty.

“This is the culmination of years of work that started with a vision to reinvent medical education to create a physician workforce to thrive in a new state of medicine,” Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Robert Garrett said in a statement. “We are reaching our goals to keep physicians in New Jersey, to diversify the physician workforce and graduate doctors who will humanize health care.”

The medical school admitted its first class in 2018 and has graduated two classes, many of whom are serving residencies in Hackensack Meridian hospitals, the school said.

In December 2022, Dr. Jeffrey Boscamp was named dean of the medical school, succeeding founding Dean Dr. Bonita Stanton, who died Jan. 19, 2022, at age 70 after a sudden and unexpected illness.

“This tremendous accomplishment is a testament to the talent and perseverance of our faculty, staff, and students,” Boscamp said about the accreditation.

The medical school’s 3+1 curriculum includes a three-year core curriculum and an individualized fourth year, built by each student. The curriculum also includes the Human Dimension course, which pairs students with families in the community, allowing the students to follow the health trajectories of these families in locations including Hackensack, Garfield, Paterson, Passaic, Bloomfield, Clifton, Nutley, Union City and West New York.

“We are meeting every standard required of us while pioneering, among a small cadre of other institutions, an accelerated medical education program, fully embracing an active learning pedagogy, and pioneering an award-winning investment in our local communities through the Human Dimension course,” Boscamp added.