Dr. Martin Finkel honored with RowanSOM Founders' Award

Dr. Martin A. Finkel, co-founder and co-director of the CARES (Child Abuse Research, Education and Service) Institute of Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (RowanSOM), was recently honored with the medical school's Founders' Award. The prestigious Founders' Award, created a decade ago as part of RowanSOM’s 35^th anniversary, honors those individuals who have made significant and enduring contributions to the development of the medical school. 

In announcing the award at the year’s Alumni Reception and Annual Meeting, RowanSOM Dean Dr. Thomas Cavalieri noted that Dr. Finkel is “an internationally recognized authority on the medical evaluation and treatment of the child alleged to have been sexually abused.” 

Dr. Finkel joined the RowanSOM faculty in 1979 and helped launch the clinical and academic Department of Pediatrics at the school. In 1982, he began to focus on helping children who had experienced the trauma of sexual abuse, describing the status of child sexual abuse research at the time as, “…a field where there was essentially no literature, no research, no diagnostic criteria and with a society that was just on the cusp of recognizing this new pandemic that few even wanted to acknowledge.” 

“We are very proud of your countless contributions to develop first-of-its-kind diagnostic and treatment approaches for victims of child abuse and child sexual abuse; treatments that are used throughout the State, and indeed the country and the world,” Dr. Cavalieri said during his announcement of the award. “As founder of the CARES Institute, you have been at the helm of developing state-of-the-art programs, training and team-based care for the children who have faced life’s most traumatic experiences.” 

In his acceptance remarks, Dr. Finkel thanked all who had been instrumental in his 42 years on the faculty, saying, “The blessing of my career has been the fortune of being surrounded by the best possible medical and mental health colleagues, and by administrative and support staff, each being exceptional in their own right.” 

Dr. Finkel is the author of the first scientific paper published in the medical literature on the healing and interpretation of child sexual abuse. The textbook he authored on the medical evaluation of child sexual abuse, originally published in America in 2009, was the first medical reference textbook on child sexual abuse published in China. Subsequent editions in Japanese, Spanish, Pakistani and Arabic have followed. He has also been appointed by eight Governors to co-chair New Jersey’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect and was a founding commissioner of the state’s Children’s Trust Fund to prevent child abuse. 

Dr. Finkel also served on the national board of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children where he had oversight for the development of national standards regarding medical terminology and the interpretation of medical findings. In 2012, he received the Ray E. Helfer Society lifetime achievement award and the Commissioner’s Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.