Jennifer Forbes
Communications & Public Affairs
732-235-6356, jenn.forbes@rwjms.rutgers.edu
New Dean Welcomes Largest Class in History to Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Class of 2019 to Don White Coats at Grand Finale to Orientation Week
First Time Students and Families Live Tweeted Congratulations at the Ceremony
Watch a brief slideshow of the event's highlights
NEW BRUNSWICK – Sherine E. Gabriel, MD, MSc, will share a common bond with the Class of 2019, when she officially joins Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School as dean the first week in August. Previously of Mayo Medical School, Dr. Gabriel, the first female dean at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will welcome more than 190 incoming medical students, the largest class in the school’s history, during the White Coat Ceremony, on Friday, August 7, 2015. The ceremony will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Arline and Henry Schwartzman Courtyard at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
The White Coat Ceremony culminates the Class of 2019 week-long orientation and signifies the students’ entrance into the medical profession. Surrounded by family and friends, and assisted by a faculty member, each student will be helped into his or her white coat, which will be worn during medical school. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the students will recite the Hippocratic Oath, beginning their journey to becoming physicians.
“I am honored to welcome the historic Class of 2019 into our medical school,” explains Sherine E. Gabriel, MD, MSc, dean of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “This class has an exceptional record in academics, community service and advocacy, and their future is limitless.”
The event’s keynote speaker is Manuel Jimenez, MD, MS, FAAP, who serves as assistant professor of pediatrics, and of family medicine and community health at the medical school. Dr. Jimenez received his medical degree from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2006. As a student, he co-founded the Promise Clinic, a student-run health clinic that was developed in partnership with Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen. The Promise Clinic is celebrating its tenth year of providing health services to the area’s underserved citizens.
Following completion of a pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, Jimenez served as a Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation Public Policy Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, where he worked on health and disability issues during the health reform debate. He then completed a combined fellowship through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania and the Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, earning a master’s degree in health policy research.
Jimenez’s returned to Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School as a faculty member in 2014 and was named the school’s first Chancellor Scholar. He serves as director of developmental behavioral pediatrics education at the Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, and is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Children’s Specialized Hospital. His research has focused on understanding the relationship between early adversity and child development, improving access to developmental services and therapies for young children, and promoting shared decision making in pediatrics.
On a policy level, Dr. Jimenez has partnered with the NJ Department of Children and Families on their efforts to improve developmental screening in pediatric primary care offices as well as improve access to and coordination of early childhood services for children at risk for developmental delays. He serves as a physician champion for the NJ Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics-Pediatric Partnership Initiative, which aims to meet the social and emotional needs of children affected by Hurricane Sandy.
About Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
As one of the nation's leading comprehensive medical schools, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical school's principal affiliate, comprise one of the nation's premier academic medical centers. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 other hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.
Part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School encompasses 20 basic science and clinical departments, hosts centers and institutes including The Cardiovascular Institute, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The medical school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels on its campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway and provides continuing education courses for health care professionals and community education programs. To learn more about Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, visit rwjms.rutgers.edu. Find us online at www.facebook.com/RWJMedicalSchool and www.twitter.com/RWJMS.
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