Rowan, Rutgers, Camden County College partner on Health Sciences

CAMDEN, NJ – With a ceremonial groundbreaking on Oct. 19, local, state and federal officials joined with the Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors (Joint Board of Governors) to celebrate the beginning construction of the Joint Health Sciences Center, an innovative facility that will provide unique education and training opportunities to a new generation of health care providers.

Set to open in the spring of 2019 at the intersection of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Broadway in downtown Camden, the Joint Health Sciences Center will be the first of its kind in New Jersey.  The construction of the 95,000 square-foot building will generate approximately $72 million in economic impact in the City of Camden alone.  Even more importantly, the education and training that will take place in the Center will prepare generations of area residents for meaningful careers in health care and biomedical research.

“With the beginning of construction, we are literally and figuratively breaking new ground,” said Kris Kolluri, Esq., Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Board of Governors. “For the first time in New Jersey, one facility will co-locate important functions of two, four-year institutions, two medical schools and a county college, all with the goal of providing a continuum of research, education and training opportunities.”

The Joint Health Sciences Center is designed to co-locate students from different academic disciplines to share laboratories, equipment and classrooms, exposing students to a broader educational experience and encouraging the connection of talents, goods and services. Rutgers-Camden, Rowan University, the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Camden County College and Joint Board of Governors administrators will all have a presence in the Center. Approximately two-thirds of the space will be dedicated to research, multi-purpose rooms and offices focused on biomedical research.

The Joint Board of Governors believes that an integrated facility like the Joint Health Sciences Center will serve as a model for how other state-funded institutions could avoid the need for duplicative facilities, thus lowering the burden on taxpayers.

The development of the Joint Health Sciences Center relied on two primary funding sources – the Biomedical Facilities Act and the Higher Education Bond Act. The Joint Board of Governors received full approval for all the grant funds in the summer of 2016.