CMSRU

Dr. Lewis Coriell was an outspoken advocate for medical education in South Jersey. In 1968, he and six other members of a committee appointed by the Camden Board of Freeholders filed a report titled, “A Medical-Dental School in South Jersey.” Today, that vision is being realized with the founding our region’s first four-year allopathic program – Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU).

The medical school will contribute to our region in several meaningful ways. More than 30,000 South Jersey residents cross the river annually to Pennsylvania seeking specialty care at academic medical centers. Consequently, South Jersey loses $2 billion in economic activity to Philadelphia medical centers each year. Also, our brightest students move away to earn their medical degrees, and many do not return to the area to practice primary care or their specialties. CMSRU will reverse these trends and help address our nation’s physician shortage, attract jobs in medicine, biomedical research, and teaching to South Jersey, and improve healthcare delivery on this side of the river.

Coriell is excited to welcome Cooper Medical School of Rowan University to our neighborhood. In light of our Institute’s focus on personalized medicine, we recognize that the lack of genetics education in the medical school curriculum is an obstacle to the full implementation of personalized medicine. With CMSRU, we are embarking on a strong partnership to shape the curriculum and prepare the next generation of physicians for the use of genetics in medicine.