Cooper University Health Care, Rowan University partner to advance innovation

Cooper University Health Care and Rowan University leaders are beginning work to create a joint innovation center to support a consortium of like-minded researchers and boost medical technology commercialization.

Inspired by a 12-year relationship formed through Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, the Joint Health Sciences Center, and the South Jersey Institute for Population Health in Camden, the two institutions are interested in deepening support for researchers and clinicians who want to bring real-world solutions from the lab bench to the marketplace. Cooper’s 900+-member Cooper University Physicians (CUP) group physicians hold joint appointments as clinical faculty at the school, which includes biomedical research labs staffed by Rowan scientists and engineers. 

Since 2022, the Cooper Innovation Center has worked to promote innovation and entrepreneurship for new medical devices, diagnostics, and therapeutics as well as encourage invention disclosures, protect intellectual property rights, and secure patents. The center helped to greatly increase investment in new technology development and launch two startups—HydroPep Therapeutics and Upstream Access—both led by inventors with appointments at Cooper and Rowan.

Between its two medical schools, partnerships with area health systems, and $451 million in sponsored research awards in the last decade, Rowan has become a biomedical research powerhouse. With an ever-increasing presence in health care innovation and rapidly rising toward Carnegie classification as an R1 (very high research activity) public institution, Rowan is poised for even more growth. 

Rowan University researchers have secured more than 60 patents since 2012. Recent Rowan innovations include inventions to speed the mapping and measurement of glioblastoma brain tumors, a blood test for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, and the world’s first surgical robotic system for repairing long-bone fractures.  

A joint innovation center would allow its partners to share funding, resources and connections to develop technologies and companies, said Rowan University President Ali A. Houshmand. 

“Pulling together biomedical research and technology commercialization will lead to new clinical trials, new devices for advancing medical diagnoses and treatment, and new technologies to help patients,” Houshmand said. “The goal is to attract researchers from around the world who will want to collaborate and work together. While the Philadelphia region is already a hotbed for biomedical research, a unified innovation hub will effectively strengthen the regional economy and lead to improved patient outcomes.” 

To jumpstart the initiative, the partners have signed an agreement outlining the responsibilities for a new associate vice president for technology commercialization and innovation. Neal Lemon, PhD, was appointed to this new role. Lemon spent nearly two decades commercializing research in Canada, Europe, and the United States, including as director of the Cooper Innovation Center since 2022. Under the agreement, Lemon will lead separate innovation centers at both Rowan and Cooper, while the institutions explore the potential for a unified innovation center.

“I’m excited about what we can build here at Rowan University,” Lemon said. “Ultimately, we hope to establish an office that serves multiple partners in southern New Jersey to assist with intellectual property, develop agreements with industry and offer assistance with starting up companies.”

“Cooper’s dedication to advancing medical innovation has always been rooted in transforming groundbreaking research into practical solutions that improve patient care,” said Eric E. Kupersmith, MD, SFHM, senior vice president and chief physician executive at Cooper University Health Care. “This partnership with Rowan University exemplifies our commitment to fostering collaboration, driving technological breakthroughs, and strengthening our region’s position as a leader in biomedical innovation. Together, we’re building a foundation that will accelerate the development of life-changing medical technologies for years to come.”