Newswise — September 15, 2021, Nutley, NJ – Bonita Stanton, M.D., the founding dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, will receive the National Medical Fellowships’ Legacy Award.
Dr. Stanton is being honored for helping to create “a school that recognizes inequity in health outcomes and that is demonstrating to students that healthcare disparities are born of structural and systemic racism,” according to the NMF.
NMF holds the Champions of Health Awards to “honor those individuals who have made a lasting impact on healthcare and diversity in healthcare as well as outstanding corporate leaders whose role and influence drives positive change in the business community and the communities they serve.”
The dean will receive the award at the 2021 Virtual Champions of Health Awards ceremony, held in New York on Sept. 28.
“Dean Bonita Stanton is an exemplary leader for the progressive mission of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, chief executive officer, Hackensack Meridian Health. “She is helping to write the future in 21st century medicine.”
Dr. Stanton, who has helmed the school since its inception in 2016, has received numerous honors as a thought leader and influential educator and physician. She said she sees it as a credit to the entire School.
“This award is validation of what is being accomplished at our School,” said Dr. Stanton. “Medical education in the United States needs to be better in treating all people across society with equal resources and attention. We are doing our very best to be part of the positive change to make a brighter future in medicine.”
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine admitted its first class of 60 students in 2018, and 18 of them graduated at the School’s first-ever commencement ceremony in June 2021. The latest class of 161 students, the School’s fourth cohort, started their journey to a degree this summer. Originally founded with a partnership with Seton Hall University, the School has been independently accredited since July 3, 2020.
The School’s curriculum fosters teamwork and a humanistic focus on community wellness. A vital piece of this mission is the Human Dimension, a three-year program integrating the biomedical, behavioral, social, and population sciences and placed in the context of the patient and communities, which touches underserved cities across New Jersey.
Stanton, a pediatrician and infectious disease expert by training, received her medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine. She earned distinctions as a health investigator living and working in the poorest parts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, studying diarrheal diseases. Research in global HIV prevention earned her accolades in subsequent years. Before coming to the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, she served as Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and ultimately as Vice Dean for Research at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Stanton is also a researcher, having been continuously funded as a principal investigator on one or more grants from the National Institutes of Health since 1990. She has also authored more than 325 peer-reviewed papers, and has served as editor of several textbooks, including the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics.
NMF is the only national organization solely dedicated to providing scholarships and support to medical and health professions students from groups underrepresented in healthcare. For the past 75 years, NMF has identified and supported more than 32,000 students by giving over $45 million in scholarships.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.
Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.
Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness center, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 36,000 team members, and 7,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.
The network’s notable distinctions include having more top-ranked hospitals than anyone in New Jersey, as recognized by U.S. News & World Report, 2021-22. Hackensack University Medical Center is the only hospital in New Jersey with the #1 adult and children’s hospital rankings.
John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is New Jersey's best cancer center, as recognized by U.S. News & World Report, 2021-22. This premier cancer center is also the largest and most comprehensive center dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, management, research, screenings, and preventive care as well as survivorship of patients with all types of cancers. John Theurer Cancer Center is part of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, an NCI designated comprehensive cancer center.
Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to ensure that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its campus in Nutley and Clifton. The Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), housed in a fully renovated state-of-the-art facility, seeks to translate current innovations in science to improve clinical outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases and other life-threatening and disabling conditions.
Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies. To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org.
ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Hackensack Meridian Health assumed its independent operation in July 2020. The school’s vision is that each person in New Jersey, and in the United States, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, will enjoy the highest levels of wellness in an economically and behaviorally sustainable fashion. The School’s unique curriculum focuses on linking the basic science with clinical relevance, through an integrated curriculum in a team-oriented, collaborative environment. The school prides itself on outreach, through programs like the Human Dimension, which is active in communities across New Jersey.
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