Rutgers medical school pathology program partners with Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office

Students enrolled in the forensic pathology program at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) in Newark now have access to new learning opportunities through the Bergen County Medical Examiner’s Office. 

Yesterday, members from the University and the Medical Examiner’s Office announced the start of a new partnership between the two announced earlier this year — the first of its kind, according to a press release. 

“A partnership between a county and a medical school is a first for New Jersey, and is an example of the kind of creativity that keeps Bergen County a step ahead when it comes to finding new ways to make government function better and more efficiently for our residents,” said Freeholder Chairman Tom Sullivan in the press release. 

Students will have access to on-site instruction at the Medical Examiner’s Office through the Rutgers pathology residency program as an extension to the school’s current residency programs offered at three New Jersey hospitals — Northern Regional Medical Examiner Office in Newark, Department of Veterans Affairs NJ Health Care System in Lyons and East Orange, Hackensack University Medical Center, according to the NJMS site.

 “… this is a tremendous opportunity for Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s forensic pathology program, to give their students the opportunity to have hands-on experience here in Bergen County, as we train the next generation of medical examiners,” said Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco in the press release. 

The primary focus of the residency program is educating students to become board-certified pathologists who can pursue a variety of career options from fellowship to practice in a commercial laboratory with an emphasis on education rather than service, according to the NJMS site.

“We will also be bringing our residency programs, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, to the County — with our first resident rotating through the office in the coming weeks,” said Dr. Chen Liu, chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in the press release.