Mission

The UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine is dedicated to providing excellence in medical education, research and health care for New Jersey and the nation.   An emphasis on primary health care and community health services reflects the School’s osteopathic philosophy, with specialty care and centers of excellence demonstrating our commitment to innovation and quality in all endeavors. The School seeks to develop clinically skillful, compassionate and culturally competent physicians from diverse backgrounds, who are prepared to become leaders in their communities.

Vision

To be the best osteopathic medical school in the nation by providing a premier, dynamic academic environment that attracts and nurtures outstanding faculty, staff, and students who are dedicated to our mission to promote health and treat illness.

Essential Values and Guiding Principles

Collegiality - Promote mutual respect, reward collaboration, encourage the open exchange of ideas, and facilitate the growth and advancement of individuals.

Guiding Principle:  We recognize that it is outstanding, innovative, dedicated people, working as a team, who make our mission, vision, and values a reality.

Compassion - Be aware of and respond to the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual needs of others.

Guiding Principle:  We consider the well-being of people to be preeminent in all of our activities.

Diversity - Support and foster cross-cultural awareness and the dignity of all, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or physical ability.

Guiding Principle:  We embrace all individuals in our communities and are committed to enhancing their health, knowledge, overall well-being, and opportunities. 

Excellence - Provide superior education, patient care, and research.

Guiding Principle:  We are committed to excellence in osteopathic medical education, research, and clinical care, especially acknowledging the importance of our major partnerships in the fulfillment of our mission.  We measure our excellence against other outstanding academic health centers with a similar tripartite mission.

Innovation – Discover new ideas and develop cutting-edge knowledge to enhance the prevention, treatment, and cure of disease.

Guiding Principle:  We are committed to innovation and collaboration across all aspects of our mission in the creation, discovery, delivery, and dissemination of new knowledge. 

Integrity - Demonstrate fairness, honesty, sincerity, professionalism, and a consistent commitment to our mission, vision, and values.

Guiding Principle:  We hold ourselves accountable for incorporating our mission, vision, and values into all operational processes, decision making, actions, and partnerships of the School.

Strategic Goals

School-Wide Strategic Goals

Goal 1:  Develop a School-wide plan for faculty recruitment, retention, and development, with particular attention to increasing faculty diversity

Goal 2:  Build endowments to provide stable, predictable funding, in support of the education and research missions of the School

Goal 3:  Review the allocation of resources and realign resources to the missions of the School

Goal 4:  Encourage interprofessional collaboration in education, research and clinical care

Goal 5:  Re-brand the School, emphasizing its osteopathic identity

Education Strategic Goals

Goal 1:  Increase the size of the undergraduate medical education program while maintaining its quality and diversity

Goal 2:  Develop and implement realistic plan for continued curriculum improvement

Goal 3:  Improve interdisciplinary education through collaboration with the UMDNJ Schools on the Stratford campus and other academic partners

Goal 4:  Recruit faculty with particular attention to improving faculty commitment to and skills in teaching

Graduate Medical Education Goals

Goal 1:  Increase the number and scope of primary care residencies and related fellowship programs while diversifying funding sources for these programs

Goal 2:  Increase Sub-Specialty area Training

Goal 3:  Increase the number of Graduate Medical Education Programs that are dually accredited by the AOA and ACGME

Research Strategic Goals

Goal 1:  Increase the number of research faculty at the School to achieve parity of basic scientists with other UMDNJ medical schools

Goal 2:  Develop and implement a faculty recruitment plan that includes promising and established investigators; basic scientists; clinical researchers (not just clinical trials); and translational researchers, in particular focusing on SOM’s Centers of Excellence

Goal 3:  Increase research funding via collaborative and/or interdisciplinary research in such areas as Neurosciences, OMM, Aging and Pain

Goal 4:  Promote research collaboration between clinical and basic science faculty

Goal 5:  Increase the number of students in the Stratford-based Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Clinical Strategic Goals

Goal 1:  Implement a “Culture of Quality” that emphasizes quality first

Goal 2: Improve financial results for the clinical enterprise toward the goal of profitability

Goal 3: Recruit and retain high quality clinical faculty
(see also School-wide Goal 1)

For a printable version of our Mission, Vision and Guiding Principles in pdf format, click here.