Hackensack Meridian Health Opens Center for Discovery and Innovation to Support Groundbreaking Research

New center will focus on research for cancer, infectious disease and regenerative medicine and create hundreds of scientific jobs in North Jersey

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Hackensack Meridian Health

May 30, 2019, 13:29 ET

EDISON, N.J., May 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hackensack Meridian Health is proud to announce the opening of the Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), a state-of-the art facility which will offer world renowned researchers the support to develop novel therapies for some of the world's most difficult diseases – cancer, diabetes, dementia, antibiotic-resistant infection and auto-immune disorders.

The new center, located next to the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, will bring together top researchers and offer streamlined systems to accelerate the timeline from discovery to treatment at the bedside.

"This is about improving outcomes for patients by streamlining the process to develop major breakthroughs and bringing together the greatest minds in science and medicine,'' said Robert C. Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health.

The Center will be organized around three specialty areas:

Institute for Regenerative Medicine, where revolutionary therapies will help diseased and damaged tissue heal itself
Institute for Cancer and Infectious Disease, where new ways to treat life-threatening infections and cancer at the molecular level are being developed
Institute for Multiple Myeloma, which will build on the network's program, one of the world's largest with more than 2,000 patients on active therapy

"This new center will transform the treatment of patients by integrating our extensive clinical expertise and research contributions with ongoing basic and translational research,'' said Andrew Pecora, M.D., chief executive officer, Outcomes Matter Innovations, LLC.

The 250,000-square-foot research facility located at the On3 campus, former home to Hoffmann-LaRoche, in Nutley and Clifton, NJ, has already attracted renowned researchers.

One of the key researchers is David S. Perlin, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and senior vice president, CDI. Dr. Perlin is the former director of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School's Public Health Research Institute and former director of the Rutgers Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, one of 13 NIH-designated national centers for pathogen research. The NIH has continuously funded him for 30 years, and he was most recently awarded a $33.3 million NIH grant to establish a Center of Excellence in Translational Research.

David S. Siegel, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the center's Institute for Multiple Myeloma, is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the rare blood cancer. He served as the lead investigator of the pivotal phase IIb study involving 30 cancer centers in North America, including Hackensack University Medical Center's John Theurer Cancer Center, that led to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's fast-track approval of Kyprolis (carfilzomib) for recurrent multiple myeloma. He is also one of 11 investigators nationwide who brought Velcade (bortezomib) to multiple myeloma patients through his clinical trials showing this medication halts the progression of the disease.

Sol J. Barer, Ph.D., the founder of Celgene and chair of the Board of Directors of Teva Pharmaceuticals, will serve as founding chair of the CDI Board of Trustees.

"This center creates an exceptional environment for research, one that brings together the best minds and sets them free to develop new therapies to improve patient outcomes,'' Dr. Barer said. "The CDI will transform biomedical research and translational science by leveraging the remarkable power of the human cell."

Funding sources will include the government – grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, for example – individual and corporate philanthropy, venture philanthropy and venture capital.

Hackensack University Medical Center's John Theurer Cancer Center has been the home to much of the network's cancer research and has built one of the world's largest multiple myeloma programs. The Multiple Myeloma Division has developed relationships that have brought advanced immunotherapies to patients.

Additionally, the National Cancer Institute approved the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center as a member of the NCI-Designated Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Consortium.

Hackensack Meridian Health has formed a partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to create an exceptional uniform standard of care throughout the network's acute care hospitals and expansive outpatient network.

The center will also serve as a research hub for students at the new medical school on the campus.

PHOTO CAPTION:
Hackensack Meridian Health announced the opening of the Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), a state-of-the art facility which will offer world renowned researchers the support to develop novel therapies for some of the world's most difficult diseases – cancer, diabetes, dementia, antibiotic-resistant infection and auto-immune disorders. Cutting the ribbon, pictured from left to right: David S. Perlin, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and senior vice president, CDI; Sol J. Barer, Ph.D., the founder of Celgene, chair of the Board of Directors of Teva Pharmaceuticals and founding chair of the CDI Board of Trustees; Gordon Litwin, Esq., chair, Hackensack Meridian Health Board of Trustees; Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health; Governor Phil Murphy; David S. Siegel, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the CDI's Institute for Multiple Myeloma; Andrew Pecora, M.D., chief executive officer, Outcomes Matter Innovations, LLC; Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi; and Township of Nutley Commissioner Thomas J. Evans.

About Hackensack Meridian Health
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 16 hospitals, including three academic medical centers, two children's hospitals and nine community hospitals, two rehabilitation hospitals, more than 450 patient care sites and physician offices. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, more than 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The Network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, four hospitals ranked among the top 10 in New Jersey, including Hackensack University Medical Center, the No. 1 hospital, Jersey Shore University Medical Center at No. 4 and Ocean and Riverview Medical Centers tied at No. 8., as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women." Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

SOURCE Hackensack Meridian Health