The campus of the former Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical plant in Clifton, Passaic County and Nutley will become a medical school. Officials with Seton Hall University and Bergen County based Hackensack University Health Network announced that the two organizations will partner to form New Jersey's first private medical school. Construction will begin later this year, and the school is expected to be completed by 2017.
"Seton Hall and Hackensack are both well-respected institutions", said Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr. in a statement, adding that "their introduction into the Nutley and Clifton communities will create new jobs, enhance the housing market and create limitless economic development opportunities for local businesses".
Both partners already have a large presence in Essex County. Hackensack University Health Network acquired Mountainside Hospital on the Montclair/Glen Ridge border in 2012, and Seton Hall University has been located in South Orange since 1860. SHU's School of Law has been located in Downtown Newark since 1951.
"it is imperative we continue to support our future workforce through a premier school of medicine", said HackensackUHN CEO Robert Garrett in a statement. Seton Hall president Dr. A. Gabriel Esteban added that the university is "perfectly poised to create a school of medicine that will educate talented people in the diverse fields of healthcare".
A press conference was held at the site on Thursday morning. Governor Chris Christie, a graduate of the Seton Hall University School of Law, spoke at the event.
Below: HackensackUMC Mountainside in Montclair and Glen Ridge.
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