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Article IndexAssembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex) offered these comments on the recommendations:
“Throughout this process, I made it very clear that I had to be convinced that this merger plan would ensure quality and accessible health care for Newark and Essex County residents,” Oliver said. “On this issue, nothing is more important, especially for low-income residents.
“As a start, I’m pleased to see that our demands on maintaining a strong hospital, health care and university presence in Newark were taken into consideration,” the Assemblywoman said. “Still, the Assembly will examine each page of this report and fully understand how it will impact residents.”
“We believe our recommendations will positively contribute to keeping New Jersey a leader in medical education and health sciences training,” Dr. Sol J. Barer, the committee chairman, said. “We also believe there are no fundamental bars to impede the transformation we’ve recommended and now is the time to act to strengthen our institutions and ensuring continued high quality healthcare delivery to our state.”
Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham (D-Hudson), chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said of the report, "University Hospital is a vital part of North Jersey’s communities. I am pleased that this hospital will stay a fixture of Newark and am hopeful that the UMDNJ Advisory Committee’s intentions are to maintain the current level of services provided by University Hospital for the residents of the region. It is imperative that we approach these changes with caution so that we do not sacrifice either the quality health care for the patients of University Hospital or the educational experiences for the health care and medical students of Newark.
“Additionally, I look forward to inviting and hearing testimony in the Senate Higher Education Committee from those involved in this reorganization of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, so that we may have a complete understanding of the statewide benefits and implications with the creation of the New Jersey Health Sciences University in Newark, the merger of Rutgers-Camden into Rowan University in South Jersey, and the realignment of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the School of Public Health and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey into Rutgers University in New Brunswick and Piscataway.”
The committee, created by Christie through an executive order. Barer is the former CEO and chairman of Celgene, and members included Robert E. Campbell, former vice chairman of Johnson & Johnson; Joyce Wilson Harley, director of Administrative Services at Essex County College; Anthony J. Perno III, president & CEO of Cooper’s Ferry Development Association, and Harold T. Shapiro, former president of Princeton University. State Acting Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks joined the committee in a consultative role.
