Restructuring Act is transforming Rowan

The New Jersey Medicinal and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act has, within its first year, brought changes that Rowan President Dr. Ali Houshmand is calling in a news release “the most tremendous and promising transformation we have celebrated in our 90-year history.”One major change was the addition of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. With this addition, Rowan has become only the second university in the nation to have schools offering both M.D. and D.O. medical degrees.

The legislation also designated the University as the state’s second comprehensive public research facility. This designation is “a milestone that opens many doors for our university,” Houshmand said.

The designation has Rowan looking ahead and developing new doctoral programs; it hopes to add engineering and psychology to its already existing cell and molecular biology Ph.D. programs.

The plans for these programs include collaboration with Rutgers-Camden and are supplemented by additional undergraduate and graduate courses.

The designation also has increased Rowan’s visibility as an economic driver: Since the Restructuring Act went into effect, the university has received more than $18.4 million in sponsored program grants and various contracts. This number is up 65 percent from 2013 and includes:

• $3.5 million to assess the effect Hurricane Sandy had on the elderly of New Jersey and the development of possible safeguards for the demographic in future natural disasters.

• $3 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to find innovative ways to address the growing need for affordable healthcare

• $1.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a study that will explore the role of diet in the higher number of preterm deliveries among African-American and Hispanic women.

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