Dean Bonita Stanton of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Named to ROI-NJ Influencers: Higher Education List

Founding Dean of first new medical school in New Jersey in decades named to prestigious list

Hackensack Meridian Health is pleased to announce Dr. Bonita Stanton, the founding dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, was named to ROI-NJ’s Influencers: Higher Education list.

Stanton, who was the first leader of the school starting in 2016, was cited for helming the private and independent medical school – “one that aims to produce a generation of doctors whose vision is built around ensuring health outcomes regardless of race or socioeconomic status.”

“I see this as a great honor for our school, and our mission,” said Stanton. “We are doing something special, and this recognition is a credit to our entire team and the hard work that has gone into realizing our vision.”

“We are very fortunate to have Dean Stanton leading the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, chief executive officer, Hackensack Meridian Health. “From the school’s founding, the Dean and her team are doing a remarkable job in transforming medical education with development of our cutting-edge program to cultivate the best doctors possible for the state of New Jersey and beyond.”

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine admitted its first class of students in 2018, and admitted its third class of more than 120 students this summer. Its vision: “Each person in New Jersey, and in the United States, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, will enjoy the highest levels of wellness in an economically and behaviorally sustainable fashion.”

The School implements this by a curriculum fostering teamwork and a humanistic focus on community wellness. A vital piece of this mission is the Human Dimension, a three-year program integrating the biomedical, behavioral, social, and population sciences and placed in the context of the patient and communities, which touches underserved cities across New Jersey.

Stanton received her doctorate from the Yale University School of Medicine, and is a pediatrician and infectious disease expert by training. She earned a reputation as a health investigator living and working in the poorest parts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, studying diarrheal diseases. Later, she earned accolades for research in global HIV prevention. Before coming to the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, she served as chair of the Department of Pediatrics and ultimately as vice dean for Research at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Stanton is also a researcher, having been continuously funded as a principal investigator on one or more grants from the National Institutes of Health since 1990. She has also authored more than 325 peer-reviewed papers, and has served as the editor of several textbooks, including the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics.

The ROI-NJ Influencers list annually honors the influential personages across New Jersey, in various industries. Stanton is not the only representative from Hackensack Meridian Health this year. Garrett, the Hackensack Meridian Health CEO, was also named to the ROI-NJ Influencers Power List this past February.

To view a complete list of the ROI-NJ Influencers: Higher Education list, please visit the website.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Hackensack Meridian Health assumed its independent operation in July 2020. The school’s vision is that each person in New Jersey, and in the United States, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, will enjoy the highest levels of wellness in an economically and behaviorally sustainable fashion. The School’s unique curriculum focuses on linking the basic science with clinical relevance, through an integrated curriculum in a team-oriented, collaborative environment. The school prides itself on outreach, through programs like the Human Dimension, which is active in communities across New Jersey.