$70M Camden health sciences center opens

Leaders from its joint board, participating institutions and elected officials marked the opening Tuesday of the new health sciences center at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Broadway in Camden.

The Joint Health Sciences Center houses lab and training spaces for multiple universities and is the only facility in the state to accommodate the functions of two four-year institutions, a county college, and two medical schools. The opening of the center represents the completion of Phase I of the board’s two-phase campus construction.

The approximately 60,000-square-foot center houses research laboratory spaces for both Rowan University and Rutgers University-Camden, simulation rooms for medical students at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, instructional space and additional simulation labs for Camden County College, and office space for the joint board.

The $70 million, four-story center was designed to co-locate faculty and students from different academic disciplines to facilitate collaboration and joint research. As a result, students from each institution will have unprecedented access to faculty and peers from other institutions, expanding opportunities for mentorship and research.

“Rowan’s recent commitment of $50 million for research funding in Camden, and at this Center, will lead to collaborations among the universities, spur growth and employment in Camden,” Rowan University President Ali Houshmand said. “Furthermore, it will produce great advances in the life sciences and serve as a catalyst that makes Camden a center of innovation.”

Joint board Chief Executive Officer Dana Redd highlighted the center as a milestone achievement for the board, Camden, and the entire region.

“Research innovation happens every day at Rutgers University–Camden, where our faculty and students are generating the original thinking and new ideas that advance our state and our nation,” said Phoebe Haddon, chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden. “This building is where Rutgers–Camden researchers – faculty and students – are going to raise the bar even higher.

“The Joint Health Sciences Center sends a message to the world,” Haddon added. “It says that Camden is the place where the future is being made – one scientific breakthrough at a time.”

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