Press Release

Contact: Kaylyn Kendall Dines
(973) 972-7276

M E D I A A D V I S O R Y

WHAT: Building Dedication Ceremony

WHEN: Friday, Oct. 24, 2003, at 10 a.m.

WHERE: 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway

Ceremony Will Mark Opening of UMDNJ's New Building
for Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and School of Public Health

A ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony to open a new $45 million building on the Piscataway campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is scheduled for

10 a.m., Friday, Oct. 24. The 120,000 square-foot structure houses state-of-the art laboratories for the basic science research being conducted at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and it serves as the flagship location for the UMDNJ-School of Public Health.

The UMDNJ officials participating in the ceremony will be Dr. Harold L. Paz, dean of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Dr. Audrey R. Gotsch, dean of the UMDNJ-School of Public Health; Dr. John Petillo, chairman of the UMDNJ Board of Trustees; and Dr. Lawrence Feldman, UMDNJ vice president. Public officials who will be speaking are New Jersey Senator Bob Smith (D-17th); New Jersey Assemblymen Upendra Chivukula (D-17th) and Joseph Egan (D-17th); New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill; and Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler.

The dedication ceremony is one of several events planned for Oct. 24. At 1 p.m., a scientific symposium, "Building Molecular Pathways to the Future," is scheduled with presentations by many of the leading faculty scientists at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the UMDNJ-School of Public Health. At 5:30 p.m., Dr. Clifton Lacy, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, will be the keynote speaker at a reception celebrating the new building.

Several other activities also have been planned. On Thursday, Oct. 23, more than 200 posters documenting research taking place at both schools will be on display in Great Hall on the Piscataway campus as part of the Fifth Annual Research Day. The day will begin with a keynote address at 9 a.m. by Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Wieschaus, a faculty member at Princeton University and adjunct faculty member at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

On Saturday, Oct. 25, a continuing medical education conference, "Breakthroughs in Science and Medicine," will be held on the Piscataway campus, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

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