Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine is a post-secondary degree-granting institution concentrating in medical training. It was established in 2015 as a joint venture between Seton Hall and Hackensack University Health Network, now known as Hackensack Meridian Health. The medical school is the first private medical school to open in decades. There was as an established network of at least 13 hospitals by the year 2019 supporting the medical school. The Health Network had reached the status of being the largest Network in the State of NJ by 2018 as merger of Hackensack and Meridian Health was completed with JFK Health. The merger essentially created 3 regions across the state of NJ: North, Central and South. Larger hospitals are leading the integration efforts. Hackensack University Medical Center in the North NJ along with another 3 hospitals, JFK Medical Center in the Central NJ along with 6 other hospitals, and Jersey Shore University Medical Center as group 3 Southern NJ regional HMH Network hospitals. Neuroscience and Stroke Care across the eastern part of the state of NJ is distributed in North, Central and Southern regions with each one of the larger three medical centers serving as healthcare hubs. Similarly these regional hubs would develop as educational centers for Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, as the medical students reach their clinical years of rotations.
Leadership
On February 24, 2016, Seton Hall and Hackensack UNH named Dr. Bonita Stanton, a nationally recognized expert on pediatric medicine, as the founding dean of its new school of medicine, which is slated to open July 1, 2018.
History
The Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry was established in 1954 as the first medical school and dental school in New Jersey. It was located in Jersey City, adjacent to the Jersey City Medical Center, which was used for clinical education. Although the college, set up under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Newark, was a separate legal entity from the University, it had an interlocking Board of Trustees. The first class was enrolled in 1956 and graduated in 1960. The dental school also awarded its first degrees in 1960. From 1960 to 1964, 348 individuals received an M.D. degree. The college was sold to the state of New Jersey in 1965 for $4 million after the Archdiocese could not support mounting school debt and renamed the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry. That entity became part of the Rutgers University system in 2013 and now exists as the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. As of February 15, 2018, the school received its preliminary accreditation. As of April 18, 2018 Seton Hall has pulled out of the partnership, as the investment was too substantial for the University to afford. At a yet-unknown future date the school will drop the "Seton Hall" name to reflect this change.
