The University's Office of Supplier Diversity and Vendor Development hosted its 13th Annual Procurement Event on Oct. 22 in Woodbridge, where representatives from Fortune 500 companies and state agencies met in an effort to foster future business opportunities. Milton Hollar Gregory, Esq., a UMDNJ trustee, delivered the keynote address to participants. Special workshops created by UMDNJ’s Supplier Chain Management Division, headed by vice president Thomas Kenyon, outlined new university wide policies on purchasing and supply chain strategy.
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Governor Jon S. Corzine and UMDNJ President Dr. William F. Owen, Jr., joined academic leaders, researchers, elected officials and other dignitaries on Oct. 23 for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey, a joint venture between UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers University. Part of the ceremony included the unveiling of the Christopher Reeve Pavilion. Reeve, a native of New Jersey, was a passionate advocate of stem cell research funding. The new facility is located adjacent to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and across from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
Last fall, Governor Corzine signed into law a bill that provides $270 million to build research facilities. In June, nearly $9.2 million in pre-development funding was approved for the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, the first to be approved and authorized under that legislation. New Jersey’s stem cell research initiative is a multi-faceted effort to create and build a vibrant stem cell research community that will develop innovative treatments for patients and generate economic opportunity and job growth in New Jersey.
Dr. David Alland, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School, has been awarded a $1.8 million grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop a test that would identify potentially life threatening blood stream infections.
He is partnering with the California based Cepheid Corporation, a molecular diagnostics company. This is his second collaboration with the company, teaming with them in 2006 to develop a new technology to test for TB. That partnership is supported by a $3.7 million grant provided by the Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics, with an additional $3.9 million grant provided by NIAID.
Dr. Joseph R. Bertino, interim director and chief scientific officer of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and professor of medicine and pharmacology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, was honored in Amsterdam with the Bob Pinedo Cancer Care Prize, a prestigious international award that recognized him for advances he has made in compassionate care of patients with cancer. The prize is awarded with the hope of inspiring others in the oncology field to keep compassion and integrity at the forefront when developing programs and meeting patients’ needs worldwide.
