RWJBarnabas Health was honored at The New Jersey Hospital Association’s (NJHA) 101st annual meeting.
Chairman of the Corporate Board of Trustees for RWJBarnabas Health, Marc E. Berson, was presented the NJHA Trustee of the Year award and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) New Brunswick and Saint Peter’s University Hospital were presented with the Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey (HRET) Community Outreach Award.
The NJHA event, held on Jan. 31 at the Hyatt Regency Princeton, included the presentation of the Healthcare Leader awards, which recognize the distinguished service of healthcare executives, trustees and clinicians, along with the Excellence in Quality Improvement Awards and Community Outreach Awards for commitment to the state’s healthcare system and the patients and communities they serve.
Recipient of the NJHA Trustee of the Year, Marc E. Berson, currently serves as the chairman of the Corporate Board of Trustees for RWJ Barnabas Health and was previously the vice chair of the board from 2016-19. His affiliation with the hospital system is longstanding as he has been chairman of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of New Jersey, both RWJBarnabas Health facilities, for more than 15 years, and was chair of Barnabas Health from 2014-16, when RWJBarnabas Health was formed.
Based in Millburn, Berson is an established entrepreneur, lawyer and philanthropist with a focus in real estate development and operating manufacturing and service businesses. He is chairman of the Fidelco Group and of the Fidelco Realty Group, an owner-developer of residential, commercial, retail and industrial properties in the New Jersey, New York, Florida and Ohio markets, which he founded in 1981.
Additionally, Berson founded Opportunity Project, Inc., a not-for-profit organization aiding in the rehabilitation and empowerment of people with brain injuries.
In the category of social determinants of health, RWJUH New Brunswick and Saint Peter’s University Hospital were recognized with the HRET Community Outreach Award for their combined efforts to improve living conditions in New Brunswick through the Healthy Homes Project.
The Healthy Homes Project uses a cross-sector approach to ensure that all New Brunswick residents live in safe homes that facilitate healthy living. Through the Healthy Homes project, four local Community Health Ambassadors, including RWJUH New Brunswick and Saint Peter’s University Hospital, have visited 130 unique homes, encompassing 785 individuals, providing educational materials, workshops, home assessments and connecting residents to services to promote healthy living conditions.
