Rutgers Advances Research and Medical Education in Partnership with the NJ Innovation and Technology Hub
Development of a Rutgers Translational Research facility and the relocation of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to NJ Innovation & Technology HUB announced at groundbreaking event
A new Rutgers Translational Research facility – one of the largest of its kind in the nation – and a new home for the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School will be cornerstones of the NJ Innovation & Technology HUB in New Brunswick in a project that will revolutionize the delivery of health care and medicine in the state.
Gov. Phil Murphy and Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway made the announcement at a groundbreaking ceremony at the HUB, a 550,000-square-foot, $665 million project being developed by the New Brunswick Development Corporation (Devco) across the street from the New Brunswick Train Station.
The HUB is designed to foster the growth of start-up companies and new technologies in a range of industries and to support the translation of research into real-world applications enabling new ventures to grow and expand the New Jersey economy.
The HUB’s expansion to include the Rutgers Translational Research facility and the new academic building for the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School provides increased collaborative opportunities for researchers, clinicians, biologists and members of the pharmaceutical industry to work together to pursue new therapies.
“The project announced today has the potential to be the most meaningful and profound investment this state has ever made in translational research that will take innovation and discovery from the bench to the bedside,” said Holloway. “This investment will fuel the kind of innovation that unleashes the combined power of one of America’s greatest public research universities with industry and other academic partners to disrupt and to transform the state and regional economies.”
Holloway thanked Gov. Murphy for his commitment to the project and noted that the HUB is “ambitious and aggressive. It is fundamental to how we will deliver knowledge and make discoveries. It will revolutionize the ways that we will provide health care and medicine in the future. It will embody the excellence that I see all around me at Rutgers.”
“We are thrilled that this historic project – along with our goal to put New Jersey once again atop the innovation economy – is about to take a huge step toward fruition,” said Gov. Murphy. “I’m confident this partnership between the public, private and academic communities will not only lead this project to success but also will serve as a model for future projects.”
Murphy said the HUB is part of his vision to reclaim the state’s mantle as a global leader in innovation, research and commercialization.
“This is a transformational project that will meet so many of our state’s needs. More than that, it is a project that will meet America’s needs for jobs, for innovation and for the kind of creative thinking that will define our future in this ever-changing world,” said Rutgers Board of Governors Chair Mark A. Angelson. “None of this would be possible without the partners that are gathered here today and without the leadership of our guiding partner, Gov. Phil Murphy.”
Angelson recalled a meeting with then-gubernatorial candidate Murphy five years ago when the idea of the HUB was first shared.
“I heard campaign promises back then and this was perhaps the most scintillating of them. This is a campaign promise, five years later, kept today, right here in New Brunswick,” Angelson said.
The relocation of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School adjacent to the RWJBarnabas campus will further enhance next-generation medical education in the state. The construction of Rutgers Translational Research facility and the new medical school building represent the first new development of capital infrastructure in the history of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.
The partnership and collaboration between the state’s largest health care systems in this venture will have the potential to vastly accelerate results in the health and wellness of New Jersey residents.
“With the HUB, we will take another step forward in harnessing New Jersey’s most vital asset: the collective brain power that forged our prominence across so many scientific and technological fields. It will bring together the life sciences industry, higher education institutions and health systems to revolutionize clinical and translational research – the research that turns ideas into cures,” said Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Chancellor Brian Strom. “With the construction of the first new buildings in the brief history of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, we will be able to unite disparate components of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School onto one campus to improve the student experience, enhance holistic medical education and facilitate clinical experiences across the four years of medical school.”
The project currently includes the Innovation Center, which is designed to foster collaboration among researchers, entrepreneurs and start-up companies, and the Core Partner Space, which will provide collaborative office and workspaces. In addition to Rutgers, other core partners include RWJBarnabas Health, Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Devco, Princeton University and Choose NJ.
