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LONG BRANCH, NJ, April 3, 2009 — Monmouth Medical Center is marking 40 years of academic affiliation with Drexel University College of Medicine in 2009, and hospital and medical school officials gathered recently for an alumni reception and signing ceremony to mark the milestone.
Seated, from left: Richard V. Homan M.D., Annenberg Dean and Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs, Drexel Univeristy College of Medicine; and Frank J. Vozos, M.D., FACS, Executive Director, Monmouth Medical Center; sign an agreement that extends Monmouth's and Drexel's educational collaboration into a fourth decade. Looking on (standing, from left) Joseph Jaegar, Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs, Monmouth Medical Center; Barbara A. Schindler, M.D., Vice Dean for Educational and Academic Affairs, Drexel University College of Medicine; George Davis, M.D., President, Monmouth Medical Center Medical and Dental Staff; Eric Burkett, M.D., Vice President, Medical Affairs, Monmouth Medical Center.
Each year, more than 300 Drexel University medical students rotate through Monmouth Medical Center — their training ground for observing and learning the medical field in a clinical setting, making Monmouth of New Jersey’s largest community teaching hospitals. During the 40th anniversary celebration at the hospital, Barbara Schindler, M.D., vice dean for educational and academic affairs at Drexel, stressed the importance of Monmouth to the education of the medical students.
“Monmouth Medical Center provides an exceptional educational experience for our students,” Dr. Schindler said. “For me, there is no greater honor than being a medical educator and training those who will go on to save thousands of lives, and it very clear that the educational experience at Monmouth is outstanding.”
Monmouth Medical Center has been affiliated with the Philadelphia medical school since 1969, and has grown today to be Drexel’s largest major academic medical affiliate in New Jersey.
“With the official signing in 1969 by Joseph Di Palma, M.D., representing Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, and Robert Stanley, then chairman of the board at Monmouth Medical Center, 40 years of educational collaboration commenced,” said Eric Burkett, M.D., vice president of medical affairs at Monmouth. “This thrust Monmouth Medical Center into the world of academic medicine as a teaching hospital.”
Dr. Burkett, a member of the 1971 graduating class at Hahnemann University — as Drexel was then known — who trained in internal medicine at Monmouth right after the original agreement was signed, notes that as an academic medical center, Monmouth is able to deliver a higher level of care to its patients.
“Renowned throughout the world for the quality of their programs, teaching hospitals are responsible for training new generations of physicians and are the frontrunners in medical research and technology,” he said. “For 40 years, Monmouth and Drexel have shared a partnership in bringing these medical students a high-quality training program before moving on to their clinical residency.”
Richard Homan, M.D., Annenberg dean and associate senior vice president of medical affairs at Drexel, noted that unique to Drexel’s educational collaboration with Monmouth is the Monmouth Medical Center Scholars Program — the eight-year undergraduate/medical school program directed toward the preparation of aspiring physicians. A cooperative integrated program developed by Monmouth University, Monmouth Medical Center and Drexel University College of Medicine, the innovative program was developed to foster local medical careers and encourage participants to stay in the region and set up their practice in the local community.
“This is an outstanding articulation program that has 11 students in the program as we speak,” he said. “As potential physician shortages grow imminent nationally, this shining program will continue to ensure that the residents of Monmouth County continue to have access to the most highly trained primary care physicians, surgeons and specialists.”
Frank J. Vozos, M.D., executive director of Monmouth Medical Center and a former surgeon who served as a clinical associate professor of surgery at the medical college throughout his 25-year surgical career, notes that the program speaks to Monmouth Medical Center’s mission to form innovative and collaborative relationships with other providers.
“As a teaching hospital, Monmouth prides itself not just on providing quality health care, but on preparing the physicians of tomorrow, and it has been extremely rewarding to partner on this innovative program,” he said.
Another highlight of Monmouth’s affiliation, in 2003, the hospital announced a prestigious new affiliation agreement with Drexel, as it became known as a major regional medical campus of Drexel University College of Medicine. According to Joseph Jaeger, M.P.H., associate vice president for academic affairs at Monmouth, the hospital was recognized as a major regional medical campus because the hospital provides all of the core clerkships required of medical school students, who follow their first two years of classroom and laboratory experience with two years of hands-on medical training.
“Monmouth provides clerkships in surgery, pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology,” adds Jaeger, who also serves as associate dean for academic affairs at Drexel. “Additionally, we provide nearly 30 electives for the fourth year medical students that cover all of the areas of medical and surgical specialty and subspecialty.”
As a further testament to Monmouth’s strong relationship with its medical school affiliate, several physicians at Monmouth have been recognized with awards for excellence in clinical teaching by third- and fourth-year medical students. For example, Monmouth Medical Center chairperson of Pediatrics Margaret Fisher, M.D., and obstetrician/gynecologist Robert Massaro, M.D., have been honored in recent years by the Student Government Association of Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, the hospital's teaching affiliate, with the Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching.
“Faculty and residents at any of the more than 20 clinical affiliates of Drexel University College of Medicine were eligible to be nominated, making these awards extremely competitive," Jaeger says. "The fact that Monmouth garnered two top awards, and had several more physicians nominated, speaks highly of our faculty and resident abilities."
Monmouth Medical Center — a member of the Council of Teaching Hospitals of the Association of American Medical Colleges, a status held by just 400 of the nation's 6,000 hospitals — has more than 100 resident physicians in seven accredited programs, including diagnostic radiology, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopaedic surgery, pediatrics and dental medicine.
For more information on graduate medical education at Monmouth Medical Center, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, call 732-923-6780.
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