November 23, 2022, Nutley, NJ – The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine has been granted full accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). This milestone brings the school, which admitted its first students in 2018, closer to full accreditation from all regulatory agencies.
“This is further validation of how the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine continues to meet and surpass all expectations, while training incredible doctors of the future,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. “The faculty, staff, and students of this one-of-a-kind institution are forging a new path to a better future.”
“We are hugely gratified that we have achieved this milestone,” said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., the interim dean of the School. “We as a team are all working hard in one direction: to offer the best medical education anywhere, producing the best doctors for New Jersey and the country.”
The MSCHE, responsible for more than 515 accredited and candidate degree-granting institutions, conferred its accreditation after a visit this past summer. The affirmation extends the School’s privilege to grant M.D. degrees and allows the School to state confidently that “Our students are well-served; society is well-served.”
The next milestone for the School is final accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the major national regulatory body. The School received provisional accreditation from the LCME in February 2021.
Aside from the MSCHE and LCME, the School has received its license from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE), and is eligible for, and participates in, the management of Title IV funds through the U.S. Department of Education. The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners’ provisional approval will convert to full approval upon the LCME’s confirmation of full accreditation.
The School has grown quickly in the three years since its founding. Its inaugural class in 2018 included 60 students. The latest two cohorts have admitted about 160 students apiece, each from an applicant pool of more than 6,000 candidates.
The school’s innovative curriculum includes interdisciplinary learning, the opportunity for a three-year path to residency, an optional fourth year which offers combined master’s degree or graduate certificate programs, and the Human Dimension Course. This immersive community-based experience links pairs of students to families in the community, with a focus on the domains of the social determinants of health: social, environmental, psychological, and medical. Throughout their stay at the School of Medicine, students in the Human Dimension follow the health trajectories of individuals and families, in locations including Hackensack, Garfield, Paterson, Passaic, Bloomfield, Clifton, Nutley, Union City, and West New York.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Hackensack Meridian Health assumed financial responsibility for the School in July 2018, and the School established its independence as a freestanding Institution of Higher Education in July 2020. THe first cohort of doctors graduated in 2021. The school’s vision is that each person in New Jersey, and in the United States, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, will enjoy the highest levels of wellness in an economically and behaviorally sustainable fashion. The School’s unique curriculum focuses on linking the basic science with clinical relevance, through an integrated curriculum in a team-oriented, collaborative environment. The school prides itself on outreach, through programs like the Human Dimension, which is active in communities across New Jersey.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. The network has 18 hospitals and more than 500 patient care locations, which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers, physician practice locations, and a fitness and wellness center. With more than 35,000 team members and 7,000 physicians, Hackensack Meridian Health is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy and committed to the health and well-being of communities throughout New Jersey. To learn more, visit www.hmsom.org.
The network’s notable distinctions include having more U.S. News-ranked hospitals than any other health system in New Jersey, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, 2022-23. Hackensack University Medical Center is nationally-ranked by U.S. News & World Report in four specialties, more than any other hospital in New Jersey. Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, are ranked #1 in the state and top 20 in the Mid-Atlantic Region by U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-23 Best Children’s Hospital Report. Additionally, their combined nephrology program ranks in the top 50 in the United States. To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org.
