Record $10M gift funds Hackensack Meridian med scholarships

The basics:

• $10M donation is largest gift in school history
• Gift establishes Helena Theurer Endowed Student Scholarship
• Four annual scholarships will cover full tuition, living expenses
• Funding aims to ease student debt, help address physician shortages

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine received a record-breaking $10 million donation from philanthropist Helena Theurer.

The Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation announced the contribution Jan. 14. According to the registered 501(c)(3), the figure marks the largest gift in the school’s history.

The funding establishes the Helena Theurer Endowed Student Scholarship. It will create the opportunity to fully fund the education of future physicians, alleviating the burden of debt. The gift will create four annual $100,00 scholarships, the foundation said.

The awards will cover full tuition and living expenses. They aim to allow students to choose specialties based on their interest and cultivate a talented student body dedicated to transforming health care, according to the foundation.

“The growing physician shortage is one of the most critical challenges facing health care today, and it is imperative that we continue to make it as easy and affordable as possible to attract everyone with the ambition and aptitude to become physicians,” said Robert Garrett, CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health.

“Generous philanthropic support is essential in our mission to educate the next generation of doctors and address this national crisis, and we are incredibly thankful for the visionary generosity of Helena Theurer and other donors who fund scholarships that directly address the significant debt that medical students often face, which can be a barrier to pursuing a career in medicine.”

A ‘transformational’ gift

And that persistent shortage of physicians will likely worsen, according to an article from Yale School of Medicine. Citing research from the Annals of Internal Medicine, the school noted doctors leaving clinical practice could send the U.S. toward a path resulting with a shortage of 86,000 doctors by 2036 — including 40,000 primary care physicians.

Fully accredited in 2023, the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine sits on the ON3 campus in Nutley. It welcomed its first class of students in 2018, and began operating independently in 2020.

According to the foundation, the school curriculum aims to produce physicians who understand the social determinants of health and can provide community-focused care.

Boosting the pipeline

In 2024, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine joined the Primary Care Scholar program.

Under that initiative, the most promising students who agree to pursue family medicine, pediatrics or internal medicine on the school’s accelerated three-year track receive offers for fully covered tuition. If they complete their medical degree and residency at an HMH hospital, tuition is fully covered and all debt forgiven. Students also receive monthly awards to assist with living expenses.

Launched with more than 160 students enrolled, the program was slated to add another 10 last year.

Dr. Jeffrey Boscamp, dean of the medical school, described the magnitude of the latest contribution. “This wonderful gift from Helena Theurer will be transformational for our students,” he said.

Theurer is a longtime benefactor of HMH. She has supported the John Theurer Cancer Center, named for her husband. Additionally, in 2020, she donated $25 million to help advance cancer research and care at Hackensack University Hospital. At the time, the recipient noted the contribution marked its single-largest gift in history.

In 2022, Hackensack Meridian Health debuted the nine-story, 530,000-square-foot Helena Theurer Pavilion at HUMC.

Mission-driven

“It is a great joy for me to support the next generation of physicians,” said Theurer. “I believe in the mission of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and am proud to help dedicated and caring students on their journey to becoming doctors. It is my hope that they will go on to provide outstanding and compassionate care to our communities for many years to come.”

The donation contributes to the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation’s $1 billion fundraising goal, as part of its Be The Difference campaign. The foundation described the program as the largest fundraising campaign undertaken by any New Jersey health care system.