The Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine announced a $4.3 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) on Rowan’s official university website on Wednesday, Aug. 31.

The grant reflects Rowan’s massive ongoing effort to expand its educational opportunities and research activity in STEM disciplines across all of its campuses. Similarly, Rowan completed the new Engineering Hall in 2018 and the grand opening of Discovery Hall for student use last September.

RowanSOM, one of Rowan’s two medical schools, will use the grant in continued collaboration with New Jersey Area Health Education Centers (NJ AHEC), where their program has paired medically underserved communities with prospective healthcare providers at RowanSOM for over 40 years.

“This unique program allows students to develop strategies and implement solutions outside of the classroom within communities that are affected by inequalities such as income, gender, race, and location,” Rowan said on their website.

The benefits of the school’s community outreach, in the backdrop of recent events, form a still complicated picture of Rowan’s role in enacting lasting social change and improving the experience of marginalized people.

“They have to look at their own campus first, but I think Rowan can eventually make a social change [by continuing community outreach],” Ben Henderson, a senior computer science major, said.

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