Press Release

Contact: Susan Preston
(973) 972-7265

UMDNJ Terminates Agreement with Columbia University

9/7/05—The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and its Newark-based University Hospital have sent a letter to Columbia University Medical Center terminating its cardiac surgery program.

The 90-day notice of termination, dated Sept. 1, 2005, was signed by Dr. John Petillo, UMDNJ President, Dr. Robert Johnson, interim dean of the UMDNJ- New Jersey Medical School, and Darlene Cox, president and CEO of UMDNJ-University Hospital.

In the correspondence forwarded to Dr. Eric Rose, chairman of the Department of Surgery at Columbia, UMDNJ acknowledged that while Columbia had made partial progress attaining stated program objectives, other objectives remain unfilled.

Dr. Petillo said, "These actions were taken to ensure that the cardiac surgery program at New Jersey Medical School and University Hospital achieves only the highest quality outcomes and patient volumes possible. After a review of our relationship with Dr. Rose and Columbia, we determined that these objectives were not possible under the current contract."

The five-year agreement with Columbia was implemented January 14, 2002.