Hackensack Meridian Medical School welcomes largest graduating class ever: 102 students

this Hackensack Meridian Medical School This week, the school reached another milestone by awarding medical degrees to its fourth class of 102 graduates, the first time the number of graduates has reached triple digits.

The school’s class size has grown each year as enrollment has increased since the inaugural class of 18 doctors graduated in 2021. This year’s class includes both the medical school class of 2020 (75 students), who graduated in four years, and the class of 2021 (27 students), who completed their studies in three years.

Bob Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, is thrilled.

“Hackensack Meridian Medical School was founded on great ambition and ideals,” he said. “Under his outstanding leadership, the school is changing the way physicians are trained and ultimately the direction of medicine.”

Dean Jeffrey Boscamp agreed.

“The school has really made great strides,” he said. “Our curriculum is designed to produce the best physicians for the 21st century, and our institution is transforming the profession. We are proud of what we have done and excited about all the work we have going on.”

About half of the Class of 2024, 50 students, will begin their first year of residency training in New Jersey. Thirty-six of those students will enter the Hackensack Meridian Health program.

Residency positions matched by this class include: various locations in the Hackensack Meridian Health Network; Stanford Health Care System; NYU Langone Medical Center; Yale-New Haven Hospital; Montefiore Medical Center/Einstein; Thomas Jefferson University; Brown University/Rhode Island Hospital; NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center; and many other top institutions.

The students’ corresponding specialties included: Internal Medicine (29), Pediatrics (12), Radiology – Diagnostic (8), Surgery – Primary (7), and Neurology, Emergency Medicine, and Family Medicine (6 each).

Since the medical school opened, the number of applicants and admissions has continued to increase. The inaugural class of 2018 consisted of 60 students. The most recent class of admissions is over 160, admitted from a pool of more than 6,000 applicants.