UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Records, A Guide to the

Prior to 1961, New Jersey's ability to train and retain physicians was limited to those graduated by the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry. In 1961, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation provided Rutgers University with a $1,072,200 grant for the planning and establishment of a two-year program of basic medical sciences, which would award a Master of Medical Sciences. Students awarded this degree completed their clinical training at four-year medical schools. In October 1962, the University's Board of Governors appointed DeWitt Stetten, Jr., MD as dean of the Rutgers Medical School. Dr. Stetten undertook the task of planning the school and recruiting faculty on November 1, 1962.

Despite the lack of a building, the Medical School became operational in an administrative and research capacity at an early stage. The Bureau of Biological Research in Nelson Biological Laboratories and the Psychopharmacology Laboratories, both at the University Heights campus, and the Colgate-Palmolive Research Center, adjacent to the Heights, provided Rutgers Medical School staff and faculty with office and laboratory space. The architectural firm of McDowell and Goldstein was retained early in 1964 to design the building for the Medical School. The Federal Government contributed $8 million, the state of New Jersey contributed $6 million, and private sources contributed $4 million to provide an $18 million building fund. Construction of the Medical Science Building on the University Heights campus began in 1966 and the Daniel I. Kessler Teaching Laboratories were dedicated in 1970.

The charter class of sixteen students matriculated in September 1966. In September 1967, Governor Hughes signed legislation that directed the Rutgers Board of Governors to request a minimum of $30 million from the state for the development of a four-year school by 1972.

On May 4, 1970 legislation was introduced in the NJ Assembly (Bill 1050)to combine the two state supported medical schools under a single Board of Trustees and administration. On June 16, 1970 Governor Cahill signed the legislation which created the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey by combining into a single entity Rutgers Medical School and New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry. That same year the CMDNJ Board of Trustees acquired the Raritan Valley Hospital in Green Brook, established in 1966, as the CMDNJ-Rutgers Medical School's primary teaching hospital. The acquisition of Raritan Valley Hospital and affiliations with community hospitals provided the clinical and training facilities for third and fourth year students. Conversion to a four-year program began in the fall of 1972 and CMDNJ-Rutgers Medical School awarded its first M.D. degrees in 1974 to thirty-one candidates.

The CMDNJ-Institute of Mental Health Sciences which housed the CMDNJ Rutgers Medical School Community Mental Health Center and which provided the focal point for instruction in the behavioral sciences and psychiatry was dedicated in 1972.

Middlesex General Hospital (now Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital) became the core teaching hospital in 1977. In 1979, the Medical Education Building, a $65 million expansion, was inaugurated at Middlesex General Hospital.

RMS at Camden was founded in 1980 as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 1540. The bill established the South Jersey Medical Education Program to develop and operate allopathic and osteopathic divisions. The school was initially established as a "school without walls" as was the School of Osteopathic Medicine, a concept promulgated by Governor William Cahill. Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center in Camden became the core teaching hospital. The following year, ground breaking for the Education and Research Building in Camden was held, and it was dedicated in 1984. The charter class of forty-two students graduated in 1985.

On July 1, 1986, RMS and Middlesex General Hospital were renamed in honor of Robert Wood Johnson III. Two new facilities, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and the Clinical Research Center, were opened in 1990. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, established in 1991 as a partnership between RWJMS and the New Brunswick Affiliated Hospitals, held its ground breaking ceremony in New Brunswick in 1994.

Deans of the RWJMS DeWitt Stetten, Jr., MD, 1962-70 James W. Mackenzie, MD, 1971-75 David J. Gocke, MD, 1977-78 Richard C. Reynolds, MD, 1979-87 Norman H. Edelman, MD, 1988-95 Harold L. Paz, MD, 1995-