- Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program talking about tomorrow's physicians, which in fact, is a mini series we've been doing for the last couple of years.

We're joined by Dr.

Amy Murtha, who's Dean of the Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and founding Dean of the Future Rutgers School of Medicine.

Doctor, it's so good to have you with us.

- Terrific to be here.

Thanks for having me.

- As I said, this is part of our series on tomorrow's physicians.

We're doing in cooperation with the New Jersey Health Foundation.

This is incredibly important, this Future School of Medicine.

I'm gonna read you a quote and then you'll explain it.

You have said that those involved in this initiative have a unique opportunity to build a new medical school from the ground up, that will become a national model for how we can work with community partners to solve health equity challenges for current and future generations.

Explain that and what kind of merger are we talking about to get there, doctor?

- Yeah, so we're really excited to be here and really excited to be able to share some of the things that are happening at Rutgers in the medical school.

So we're in the journey to bring together the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Rutgers New Jersey Medical Schools.

Two schools that have been fully accredited independently and have historically always competed with each other for everything are now gonna come together under a single brand, the Rutgers School of Medicine, and a single accreditation.

So that will actually create one of the largest medical schools in the country.

And in, we're gonna leverage this moment to really re-envision how we actually teach and train our students, how we do research, and how we actually engage with our community partners in a really meaningful way to make sure that we're providing the best care for the citizens of New Jersey.

- You know, I'm gonna ask you a little bit, in just a second, Dr.

Murtha, about the tomorrow's physicians, meaning what kind of skills and tools do the physicians of tomorrow need, and how will this medical school, which opens I believe in 2028, if I'm not mistaken?

- First class starts 2028, yeah.

- What's your entry into medicine is very personal for you.

Please talk about that.

- Yeah, so I was actually first a physician's assistant and I chose that path mostly because I didn't think I was smart enough.

I didn't think I had the endurance or the resources to go to medical school.

And I learned during my journey, during my PA training, that maybe I was smart enough and had the endurance and actually applied to, did additional prerequisites, applied to medical schools in a number of places.

Had a tough time getting in, but managed to get into the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

And I will say that I was smart enough.

I did not have the resources actually, and I ended up with the second largest debt in my med school class.

It took me 26 years to pay off.

So I really appreciate the challenges that medical students face in that space too.

- Okay, and also your background is, you're an OBGYN, correct?

- I'm an OBGYN, right.

So I did my specialty training then in OBGYN and Maternal Field of Medicine down at Duke University.

And in that space actually focused in trying to prevent and treat women at risk for preterm birth.

And from Duke, where I was for 26 years, I moved to University of California, San Francisco, where I was the chair of the Department of OBGYN Reproductive Sciences.

- And we have you now in New Jersey.

- And now you got me in New Jersey, right, yeah.

- Yeah.

- I'm home actually, Steve too.

I'm home.

I grew up in Rockland, just over the border in New York.

And yeah, so I'm home and I feel like I'm with my people.

- Got it.

And let me also talk about being home.

For years I've co-hosted, co-emceed the EJI Excellence in Medicine Awards.

Someone might say, well, what does that have to do with this conversation?

And the website will come up for the EJI Excellence in Medicine Awards and we do it in cooperation with our colleague, Patricia Costanti, who helped make that possible.

And why is it relevant?

A significant amount of the proceeds from that annual dinner go to scholarships to top medical students to help defray the cost.

You just heard Dr.

Murtha talk, how many years again did it take you to pay it off?

- 26.

- Help folks understand why those scholarships are so important for the physicians of tomorrow.

- Yeah, so medical school education has gotten increasingly more expensive for us to provide and for students then to actually pay for.

And so students are now graduating with well north of $200,000 in debt and some as high as four or $500,000 in debt.

That takes time to pay off.

It also impacts the students' interest in specialties that don't make as much money, because it takes longer to pay that debt off.

So it's actually contributing to our primary care shortage.

- Going back to, Dr.

Murtha, going back to the quote that I read from you, you mentioned how this new school of medicine opening in 2028 will help improve health equity in our state.

Explain that, please.

- Yeah, so one of the things that we prioritize at Rutgers in both medical schools is really identifying students who have empathy, who have the ability to provide compassionate care.

And then we spend the beginning days, the first three weeks while they're here and then throughout their first couple of years and then also in the clinical time, really fostering that compassionate care focus for our medical students, so that they can actually take care of patients across differences, have a deeper appreciation for what the lived experiences of individuals who come to the healthcare environment and how to make sure we provide the best care possible to them.

- Well said, and also, let me say this.

The Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine is tied to the larger Robert RWJ Barnabas Health System.

- Correct, correct.

- Long time underwriter of public broadcasting.

So let me just disclose that, but also, let me go back to this, one of the last questions I have.

I'm curious about this.

What do you believe, Dr.

Murtha, the impact has been in the post COVID era?

I mean, we're doing this program at the end of 2025, be seen in 2026.

As in March of 2026, I won't, I cannot believe it will be six years since that Friday, March the 13th, when COVID became so real for the rest of us.

But for you and your colleagues, it was real much sooner than that.

What do you believe the short and long-term impact or the impact is on the those who go into medicine?

- Yeah, yeah, the impact on the healthcare workforce has been enormous and I, that's not just physicians, but I think it's all healthcare professionals.

It's been harder to recruit in some areas.

It's been harder to get docs to do things that are harder specialties.

And so I think that impact of COVID actually has informed how we are training our medical students.

I think just a layer on top of that, it's, significant advances in technology also I think are impacting how our providers provide care.

- How optimistic are you about the physicians of tomorrow?

- Oh my gosh, so I'm incredibly optimistic about what we're doing in New Jersey.

We will be one of the largest medical schools in the country, really.

And we're the public university.

We serve New Jersey.

And that is our goal.

We're in one of the most population dense states in the country.

One of the most diverse states in the country.

We actually are in the state that's got the, almost the highest proportion of physicians over 60.

So we will be working to really fill that gap for the physician workforce shortages that we're anticipating and are experiencing in many instances all across New Jersey.

So I'm optimistic, because what I've seen in the merger of the medical schools is we've been able to bring two independent medical schools together across shared values and shared vision.

And it just creates such a powerful opportunity for the school and, but actually for New Jersey as well.

- Well said.

And I look forward to seeing you at the EJI Excellence in Medicine Awards.

And Dr.

Amy Murtha, who is the Dean of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson School of, Med School, excuse medical school, and also the founding dean of the soon to be in 2028, future Rutgers School of Medicine.

Dr.

Murtha, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you so much.

I appreciate being here.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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