Dennis Pullin makes it clear: The Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences of Rowan University was not created by happenstance, and it was not led by geography.
Pullin, the CEO of Marlton-based Virtua Health, said the system made an extensive search for an academic partner it felt could help create a new model for care, wellness, training and research — looking around the region and around the country — and that it kept coming back to the university that was 20 miles down the road in Glassboro.
“It didn’t have to be someone local, it just had to be someone who would be the best bet for us to do the kinds of things that we wanted to do — everything from translational research to improving care to training physicians to keeping people well in the community. It just so happened that Rowan was the school that really rose to the top.”
Rowan President Ali Houshmand was all in on the idea. In January 2022, the two announced the plans to create what they call a new academic health system.