Thanks to professional golfer Val Skinner, the LIFE Center at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) received a $500,000 donation from the Val Skinner Foundation. The funds were raised at two Foundation-sponsored golf outings held in New Jersey and South Carolina.

The donation will allow the LIFE Center to expand its BioCONECT educational program to high schools in South Carolina. BioCONECT, a science-based curriculum developed in collaboration with the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, was pilot-tested in 24 New Jersey high schools last year. Read more.

The Eric B. Chandler Health Center in New Brunswick recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a gala that raised $125,000 to support its healthcare and community outreach programs.

Two community leaders were recognized at the event. C. Roy Epps, president and CEO of the Civic League of Greater New Brunswick, was honored for his long standing activism in New Brunswick. He is the Chandler Center’s founding chair and a former board member. Mariela Herrera Cifelli, a social worker at Chandler, was recognized for her leadership and dedication to patients. She joined the health center in1998 and later developed its adolescent and domestic violence awareness programs. The Chandler Center is operated by UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Read more.

Dr. George Rhoads, associate dean of faculty and academic affairs at UMDNJ-School of Public Health, is the recipient of the Abraham Lilienfeld Teaching Award from the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA). The Award recognizes excellence in teaching epidemiology.

Rhoads was selected to help oversee the implementation of a new federal research project targeting children’s health that will span more than two decades. The National Children’s Study will be the largest long-term study of environmental and genetic effects on children’s health ever attempted in the U.S. Read more.