RWJBarnabas Rutgers Partnership Aims to Improve Health Field

Barry Ostrowsky, President & CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, explains how their partnership with Rutgers University is preparing students for the healthcare field and making New Jersey a destination for healthcare, treatment and research.

10/30/17 #2082

Excerpt:

"We're pleased to welcome Barry Ostrowsky, President and CEO, RWJBarnabas Health. Good to see you Barry. Great to be here. Thanks Steve. You've talked to us about a whole range of health related issues on so many of our programs, but on July 27, 2017, a major announcement took place between your organization and Rutgers. Talk about it. Well I'll tell, our partnership with Rutgers, which is that which we announced on the 27th is perhaps the most transformational initiative we, as a system, have ever undertaken. And frankly, I think it's transformational for New Jersey. And we've long been committed to medical education, and we've long believed in medical research, but there really hasn't been a vehicle to take the state's largest healthcare system with the state university, which is an internationally renowned educational facility that does research, put it together, combined the strengths of those two organizations, and in fact have a blueprint by which we can invest in academics, and in research, build programs that'll cover New Jersey. So for us it's terrific. I think it's great for the  Rutgers University and for the state of New Jersey. You know, you and I were talking about impact right before we got on the air here, and you we're talking about research. Let me talk about it from an applied perspective. Translation, the impact - the potential impact - on the healthcare landscape in the state and, frankly, more importantly, more specifically, the consumers of healthcare? That's what this is all about. Of course, our mission is to make the lives of the people of New Jersey better, no matter how we can do that. Whether it's addressing social determinants, or whether it's delivering healthcare services, or whether it is, in fact, discovering new healthcare services, new techniques, and so medical research is not simply an academic affair. It is, in fact, an attempt to make healthcare services better, to determine how better to treat people with conditions and illnesses, and of course, what you just suggested, what is that translational process? Right. And so when you put a big delivery system together with a university like Rutgers, you can accelerate the translation of that which you find in a laboratory to the bedside. And it's not inexpensive. It's a commitment. It's an investment. And it's certainly anything but casual. So part of the motivation behind the partnership that we form is to accelerate this translational research so that it can impact the consumers. Everything we do, candidly, is about the consumer. That is our mission. How do we make your life better? Your neighbor's life better? The community in which you live better. Hmm. And we think this partnership will enable us to, in fact..."