Education, health care and policy leaders discuss Rutgers' role in expanding innovation and opportunity in New Brunswick and beyond

Rutgers University President Robert Barchi welcomes attendees at the Middlesex County 2018 Business Summit at Rutgers-New Brunswick.
Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University

Major health care initiatives, plans for an innovation hub in New Brunswick, and a partnership with the city to build the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center are among major projects signaling an economic rebirth in the region, Rutgers University President Robert Barchi said at a gathering of state education, health care and policy leaders.

“We know about the amazing renaissance that happened in this city beginning in the 1970s, thanks to the city’s leaders in partnership with Rutgers University and Johnson & Johnson,” Barchi said at the Middlesex County 2018 Business Summit at Rutgers-New Brunswick on Friday. “I’m here to tell you that there is another rebirth in the City of New Brunswick and in Middlesex County, too.”

The latest rebirth began six years ago with the integration of most units of the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey into Rutgers University to create Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Barchi said.

“Since the integration, we continue to make new connections with the research community, thanks to the strength and continued growth of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences’ research portfolio,” Barchi added.

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The event, which focused on the impact of education and policy on the economy of Middlesex County, featured a keynote by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and a panel discussion that explored Rutgers’ role in expanding innovation and opportunity in New Brunswick and beyond.

In addition to Barchi, panelists included Barry H. Ostrowsky, president and chief executive officer, RWJBarnabas Health;  Robert C. Garrett, co-CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health; Christopher J. Paladino, president, New Brunswick Development Corporation (Devco); Carl Van Horn, founding director, Rutgers’ Heldrich Center for Workforce Development; and Ronald G. Rios, Middlesex County freeholder director.

Among the initiatives highlighted:

• The creation of Rutgers Health, the clinical practice of physicians, nurses, dentists and other clinicians.

• Rutgers’ partnership with RWJBarnabas Health to create a premier academic health system. RWJBarnabas will invest $100 million to develop Rutgers’ academic and research initiatives in the health sciences, and $50 million a year in mission support for the next 20 years.

• A partnership between Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts, the New Brunswick Development Corporation (Devco) and the New Brunswick Culture Center to build the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, expected to be completed in 2019.

• Development of an Innovation Hub on a four-acre site near the train station in New Brunswick to foster the development of startup companies tied to leading-edge research.

Barchi noted Rutgers’ partnerships with state, county and city leaders are fueling economic growth in the region and are helping to make New Brunswick safer as university and city police departments work together.

“A stronger Rutgers means a stronger Middlesex County and vice versa,” Barchi said. “We’re committed to continuing along that trajectory with all of you.”