Office for Diversity and
Community Engagement

Welcome to the Office for Diversity and Community Engagement (ODACE) (formerly the Office of Special Programs) Web site. NJMS has a tradition of commitment to diversity and has fostered a spirit of inclusiveness for its highly diverse community, faculty, staff, and students.  Our mission is to develop individuals underrepresented in medicine and other health professions, as well as to champion cultural competency, community service, and humanism in all aspects of medical education.  We at NJMS are resolutely responding to the need for a diverse healthcare workforce that resembles the diversity of today’s patients.  To accomplish this, a myriad of programs have been implemented in collaboration with partners at the pre-college, undergraduate, professional school, and community levels.  Collectively, these partnerships embrace and recognize the impact that diversity has on the educational experience of all students and on the delivery of culturally competent quality healthcare.  The Office for Diversity and Community Engagement has established pipeline programs to build and strengthen these partnerships to address the entire educational spectrum through federally and privately programs including the Hispanic Center of Excellence, Health Careers Opportunity Program, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/AAMC Summer Medical and Dental Education Program, and the Mini-Medical School.

In addition, the mission continues to be translated into action through the Student Health Advocates for Resources and Education (S.H.A.R.E.), Center, and the Healthcare Foundation Center for Humanism and Medicine.  The S.H.A.R.E. Center at NJMS facilitates the many service-learning opportunities in community health and educational outreach programs to the inner-city population of Newark and beyond.  Similarly, the Healthcare Foundation Center for Humanism and Medicine promotes education, research, clinical practice and community outreach activities that embody dignity and respect for the individual. 

History

NJMS’s commitment to the education of students from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds is closely intertwined with the University’s pledge to the urban community of Newark. Through the articulated document, “The Newark Agreements,” the institution ratified its promise to provide educational and employment opportunities to Newark’s largely disadvantaged residents. This commitment began to materialize in 1972 with the establishment of the Office of Minority Student Affairs. The office’s primary goal was to develop a competitive minority/disadvantaged applicant pool for medicine and other health professions.

Recognizing the importance of developing individuals at a younger level, NJMS began to work with high school students through the Minority High School Student Summer Research Apprentice Program in 1981, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

In 1992, the Office of Minority Affairs became the Office of Special Programs. The associate dean for this office was charged with developing a pipeline at the middle- and high school level. In November 1997, the dean appointed Maria Soto-Greene, MD, as the acting associate dean for Special Programs. For the first time, all programs related to minority health professions education were housed in one office. This resulted in a new, more comprehensive vision for the medical school. In 1996, the Office of Special Programs began establishing a partnership funded through a cooperative agreement from the Bureau of Health Professions. Today, the partnership has proven to be valuable, providing the tools and flexibility to impact students from different educational backgrounds. The partnership consists of UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School (NJDS), UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS); three undergraduate institutions: Montclair State University, Rutgers University- Newark; Rutgers University-New Brunswick; Newark secondary schools; and the FOCUS Community Health Center. As a result of this partnership, a supportive environment that provides for career choices in many health professions has been created. Initiatives promoted by the partnership are focused toward recruiting individuals who will advance the goals of diversity in the medical profession, reduce health disparities and/or improve healthcare to underserved populations.  In December 2011, the Office of Special Programs was renamed the Office for Diversity and Community Engagement (ODACE).

The Office for Diversity and Community Engagement also supports student community service activities through the S.H.A.R.E. Center and the Healthcare Foundation Center for Humanism and Medicine.