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Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
December 2011
In This Issue
Breaking News!
Admissions Update
Construction Update
Focus on Faculty
Focus on Curriculum

CMSRU Breaking News!
Help Us Name Our Newsletter!
CMSRU goodies
The Ferry Terminal
Building crew has run out of creative ideas to name this newsletter, so we're turning to the inspired minds of the CMSRU faculty. Send your ideas for a catchy name for our monthly update to [email protected] by December 21, 2011. The individual submitting the winning entry will receive a CMSRU backpack filled with prime CMSRU swag. 
CMSRU Leadership Attend AAMC Annual Meeting

The AAMC Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO in early November, brought together nearly four thousand academic healthcare professionals to discuss current issues in medical education and healthcare, present research findings, and network with colleagues from around the country and the world.  CMSRU was out in force to both present our new school, and to learn as much as we could.  CMSRU attendees blogged about their experiences at this informative meeting, and updates were posted on our website in real-time.  Click HERE to read about some of the sessions we attended that offered information relevant to CMSRU.

 

 

CMSRU Receives Its First Federal Grant

In October, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that Cooper Medical School of Rowan University was the recipient of a five-year, $794,975 Primary Care Training and Enhancement grant for our project "Primary Care Teaching Using Camden as our Classroom." Click HERE to read more about this major research grant.

 

CMSRU and Coriell Build Educational Alliance

CMSRU and Coriell Institute for Medical Research recently signed a formal agreement to establish a medical education affiliation.The agreement affords Coriell's scientists and researchers the opportunity to serve as biomedical science faculty.  Click HERE to read more about this important alliance.  

 

CMSRU Recognized for Efforts to Employ Camden Residents

In early November, CMSRU's position as an economic driver for the City of Camden was highlighted in a column by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kevin Riordan. Mr. Riordan visited the construction site to interview Dr. Katz and leadership from Cooper and the Camden County Improvement Authority about a successful construction trades pre-apprentice program that has helped 40 Camden residents participate in building the school. Click HERE to read the full article.


Coming Next Month:

Read about the process for Faculty Appointments and Promotions in our
Focus on Faculty
section!
 

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CMSRU Clinical Faculty Update

Paul KatzWelcome to the first issue of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University's clinical faculty newsletter! As you know, this is an extremely busy time for our fledgling medical school. Construction on the medical education building is continuing; we're working hard to select the 50 students who will make up our charter class; we continue to appoint both clinical and basic science faculty; and we're putting the finishing touches on all the innovative programs that will define the educational experience at CMSRU. This will be the first of what we hope will be a monthly communication with you, our clinical faculty. We welcome your questions and ideas for topics you would like to see covered. Please email [email protected] with your suggestions.

 

Best wishes for a joyful holiday season and a happy, healthy 2012!  

Paul Katz, MD
Founding Dean 

 






Admissions Update  

We are projocelyn, kate & Johnud to report that over 2600 prospective students have applied for admission to CMSRU. 

 

Interviews for our charter class began in September and will continue through March 2012. Twenty-four students are invited to each bi-weekly Interview Day. The day consists of informational sessions; a tour of Cooper University Hospital; participation in Standardized Patient Interviews; and a traditional 30-minute interview with two interviewers, one of whom is blinded. We plan to interview about 300 candidates for the 50 open spots at CMSRU.

 

As our interviewers will tell you, the field of prospective students is spectacular. These bright men and women have stellar MCAT scores, distinguished undergraduate careers, and well-rounded extracurricular activities that demonstrate an unwavering commitment to community service and outreach. Our interviewers and Admissions Committee are doing a great job of sorting through these excellent candidates to find the students who best match the mission of our school. You will surely be impressed when you meet our inaugural class in August 2012.

 

Construction Update   

Construction on the CMSRU Medical Education Building is moving forward! The next major milestone is building enclosure, expected early December. We expect substantial completion of the building in June of 2012, and we will relocate to the building over the summer - hopefully well in advance of our students arriving in August. In the coming months, we will give you some additional details about the wonderful educational spaces in our new building - spaces where many of you will come to teach our new students, collaborate with fellow clinical and biomedical science faculty, and bring to fruition our vision of an innovative medical school that nurtures the physicians of the future.  For an early look, see our interactive tour HERE.

 

 

Focus on Faculty: William Kocher,MD 

William Kocher, MD, has been appointed Chair of Biomedical Sciences at CMSRU. A pathologist at Cooper University Hospital, Dr. Kocher has been involved in the diagnosis of surgical pathology cases and oversight of the operation of the Clinical Laboratory. He also serves as medical director of Cooper's blood bank and director of the autopsy service.

 

Dr. Kocher has been actively involved with the development of CMSRU since the medical school was announced two years ago. He serves on the Curriculum Committee and will be director of the Fundamentals course for first-year medical students.  

 

"Dr. Kocher is a master educator who has earned numerous accolades for his teaching, including special recognition by medical students at Thomas Jefferson University who commissioned a portrait in his honor," says Annete C. Reboli, MD, Vice Dean of CMSRU. "His teaching and leadership experience will be a tremendous benefit as we develop our Biomedical Sciences program at CMSRU."  

 

Dr. Kocher earned his medical degree at Jefferson Medical College and completed his Pathology residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, and Hematopathology.

 

Focus on Curriculum: LifeStages   
Lifestages artwork

While CMSRU is in the midst of developing its charter class and constructing the new medical education building, our experienced clinical faculty members are finalizing some of the nation's most innovative approaches to educating tomorrow's doctors.

 

One of those courses is LifeStages, a mandatory, four-week course for first-year students that will advance, reinforce and place clinical context to the basic aspects of human development and aging from infancy through geriatrics. The course will explore the developmental challenges of each stage, and health issues related to these challenges. Psychological, economic and socio-cultural dimensions and their impact on health will be discussed, and clinical experiences will introduce students to the fields of pediatrics, adolescent medicine, internal medicine and geriatrics.The curriculum will include topics such as: growth and development, hormonal changes, pharmacodynamics, injuries, safety, ethics and moral issues.

 

In August, Anuradha Mookerjee, MD, MPH, FACP, Assistant Professor of Medicine at CMSRU, presented a poster on LifeStages at the Annual Conference of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Mookerjee developed the poster in conjunction with Consuelo Cagande, MD, William Graessle, MD, and Vijay Rajput, MD, FACP.

 

 

About Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
CMSRU is committed to providing humanistic education in the art and science of medicine within a scientific and scholarly community in which inclusivity, excellence in patient care, innovative teaching, research and service to our community are valued.

Core values include a commitment to diversity, personal mentorship, professionalism, collaboration and mutual respect, civic responsibility, patient advocacy and lifelong learning. 
 
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Ferry Terminal Building
Two Aquarium Drive, Suite 305 
Camden, New Jersey 08103
856-361-2800

www.rowan.edu/coopermed