The Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine (also known as Rowan-Virtua SOM or SOM) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

located in Stratford, in the U.S. state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Founded in 1976, Rowan-Virtua SOM is one of two medical schools associated with

Rowan University Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. It was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents. ...

. Rowan-Virtua SOM confers the

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become licens ...

degree (DO), and is one of the top medical schools for geriatric care and primary care as ranked by the U.S. News & World Report. Rowan-Virtua SOM is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's

Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation The American Osteopathic Association's (AOA) Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) accredits medical schools granting the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree in the United States. The US Department of Education lists the Co ...

. The

World Directory of Medical Schools The World Directory of Medical Schools is a public database of institutions that provide medical education. There are over 3,600 medical schools listed in the directory. The directory is published as a collaboration of the World Federation for Medic ...

lists the school as a ''US medical school'' along with other accredited US MD and DO programs.

History

The school was established under the

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) was a state-run health sciences institution of New Jersey, United States. It was founded as the Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry in 1954, and by the 1980s was both a major ...

in 1976 by the New Jersey state legislature. Initial classes were held at what is now

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is a medical school of Rutgers University. It is one of the two graduate medical schools of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, together with New Jersey Medical School, and is closely aligned with R ...

for its first two years until its campus was complete. The first class of 24 students began on September 7, 1977. Rowan-Virtua SOM's first affiliate was Kennedy University Hospital, which remains its principal teaching hospital. The Kennedy Health System includes hospitals in Stratford (adjacent to the SOM campus), Cherry Hill, and Washington Township. Other affiliates include Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, Lourdes Medical Center in

Willingboro Willingboro Township is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is a suburb of Philadelphia and part of the state's South Jersey region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,889, an increase o ...

, Christ Hospital in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Elmer Elmer is a name of Germanic British origin. The given name originated as a surname, a medieval variant of the given name Aylmer, derived from Old English ''æþel'' (noble) and ''mær'' (famous). It was adopted as a given name in the United State ...

and

Vineland ''Vineland'' is a 1990 novel by Thomas Pynchon, a postmodern fiction set in California, United States in 1984, the year of Ronald Reagan's reelection.Knabb 2002 Through flashbacks by its characters, who have lived the sixties in their youth, th ...

. The SOM Specialty Care Center opened in 1987; two years later, the adjoining Primary Care Center was purchased. The following year, the Science Center was built, and began functioning as the primary campus for the 4-year medical program. The campus was completed in 1993 with the addition of the new Academic Center. On June 28, 2012 the New Jersey state legislature passed the New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act which dissolved the

on July 1, 2013, resulting in the merger of the Stratford SOM campus with

and the remainder of its teaching schools associating with

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

University Hospital A university hospital is an institution which combines the services of a hospital with the education of medical students and with medical research. These hospitals are typically affiliated with a medical school or university. The following i ...

became an independent entity. The school is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's

(COCA) and by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

Academics

The school has a close affiliation with the six-hundred–bed

Jefferson Health Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals Inc, branded as Jefferson Health, is a multi-state non-profit health system whose flagship hospital is Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. The health system's hospitals serve ...

Stratford hospital (through their acquisition of

Kennedy Health System Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals Inc, branded as Jefferson Health, is a multi-state non-profit health system whose flagship hospital is Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. The health system's hospitals serve ...

in 2017) and

Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is a teaching hospital in Camden, New Jersey which opened on July 1, 1950. Services The hospital is one of the largest providers of cardiology services in the Delaware Valley. The cardiologists specialize in a ...

, a 437-bed tertiary hospital in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

Notable alumni

Jane Aronson Jane Aronson, D.O. (born November 10, 1951, Brooklyn, New York) is an osteopathic physician, with expertise in pediatric infectious diseases and adoption medicine. Life and career Jane Aronson grew up on Long Island, New York. After graduati ...

(born 1951), physician, with expertise in pediatric infectious diseases and adoption medicine.Jane Aronson: Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Weill Cornell Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

. Retrieved December 15, 2019. "Education and Training - D.O., School of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey 1986".

References

External links

* {{Coord, 39.830834, -75.006586, display=title Osteopathic medical schools in the United States Medical schools in New Jersey

Osteopathic Medicine Osteopathy () is a type of alternative medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of the body's muscle tissue and bones. Practitioners of osteopathy are referred to as osteopaths. Osteopathic manipulation is the core set of techniques in ...

Educational institutions established in 1976 1976 establishments in New Jersey