INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR
PUBLIC HEALTH "TOPPED OFF"

On September 13 the final, 20-foot steel beam was raised and put in place for the International Center for Public Health, a 186,600-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Newark. When completed next year, the Center will house more than 250 scientists from the Public Health Research Institute, a prestigious biomedical research organization that will relocate from Manhattan, and the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School's National Tuberculosis Center and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Stuart D. Cook, MD, UMDNJ president, says it will be one of the few facilities in the world to focus on research at many levels, from basic infectious disease studies to drug development. It will have strong local, national and international public health components. The Center will make Newark a major player in the escalating battle against urgent public health threats such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and bioterrorism. Funding for the Center is being provided through an $18 million grant from the State of New Jersey, and $47.1 million from the sale of bonds by the Economic Development Agency. Additional funds were provided by The Prudential Foundation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The day also marked the announcement of plans for Science Park Village, 125 single- and two-family housing units with an average price of $60,000 to be built near the new center. It will be open to the public, but Newark residents who have been displaced by the construction of the International Center for Public Health will be given first priority. Funding for this project is being provided by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and The Bank of New York. Both projects are located in University Heights Science Park, a 50-acre mixed use science and technology park in the city's Central Ward. It's a joint venture of the Council on Higher Education in Newark (UMDNJ, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University/Newark and Essex County Community College), the city and community of Newark, and the private business community; and was designed to harness university science and technology research as a force for economic and community development in Newark and regionally. Stanley S. Bergen, Jr., MD, chairman of the board of trustees of University Heights Science Park, served as official host for the event. "The International Center for Public Health will increase New Jersey's competitive edge in becoming the center of the world's biomedical industry. Its creation, like University Heights Science Park, is the result of a commitment made more than a decade ago by leaders in government, academia, business and industry, and the community," he said.