Rutgers School of Health Professions

A first-of-its-kind camp helping young people with spinal cord injuries reclaim independence.

True Grit is a residential program run by Rutgers SHP that helps teens and young adults rebuild confidence, community, and independence as they transition to adulthood after spinal cord injury.

Read the story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/true-grit-helping-young-people-with-spinal-cord-injuries-reclaim-independence/

Explore Week 3 (Community Impact): https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/engage/

Download the full PDF:https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/01/FINAL-Rutgers-SHP_2025-Community-Impact-Report-.pdf

When health systems are designed far from the people who use them, even the best intentions can miss the mark.

Rutgers SHP Research Series | Part 2 of 4 spotlights how SHP faculty are listening first—and redesigning care with communities across autism care, public schools, free clinics, spinal cord injury rehab, and campus food access.

🎥 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uk1P8DhgkI
🔗 Read the full story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/blog/2026/01/23/redesigning-care-with-communities/

For 25 years, Rutgers SHP has helped change how inpatient mental health care is delivered in New Jersey.

A Rutgers SHP team has worked inside state psychiatric hospitals to replace outdated custodial care with recovery-oriented, evidence-based psychiatric rehabilitation. Their free inpatient psych rehab trainings have now been viewed more than 250,000 times since 2021.

Read the story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/celebrating-25-years-of-psychiatric-rehabilitation/

Explore Week 3 (Community Impact): https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/engage/

Download the full PDF:https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/01/FINAL-Rutgers-SHP_2025-Community-Impact-Report-.pdf

In January 2025, Rutgers SHP expanded its pro bono clinic network to include mental health.

The new mental health clinic helps close a major gap in continuity of care—offering individual and group counseling through telehealth and in-person services, while preparing students to deliver compassionate, coordinated care in the communities that need it most.

Read the story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/delivering-comprehensive-community-care/

Explore Week 3 (Community Impact): https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/engage/

Download the full PDF:https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/01/FINAL-Rutgers-SHP_2025-Community-Impact-Report-.pdf

Does strategic planning really have to take years to be credible?

We did it in five months.

At Rutgers School of Health Professions, we tested a faster, more participatory approach to strategic planning and found that speed and buy-in do not have to be at odds.

The bigger takeaway: in higher education, slow planning is not just inefficient. It is a risk.

Read more: https://shp.rutgers.edu/blog/2026/03/04/fast-enough-to-matter-what-we-learned-building-a-strategic-plan-in-five-months/

Written by Karen Shapiro, Jeffery DiGiovanni, Alma Merians, Yuane Jia, Pamela Rothpletz-Puglia, and Ralph A. Gigliotti.

Fast Enough to Matter: What We Learned Building a Strategic Plan in Five Months Fast Enough to Matter What We Learned Building a Strategic Plan in Five Months By Karen Shapiro, Jeffery DiGiovanni, Alma Merians, Yuane Jia, Pamela Rothpletz-Puglia, and Ralph A. Gigliotti Let's be honest about something: most strategic planning processes are exhausting. They take years. They rely....

Record NIH funding is the headline. What it enables is the impact.

Rutgers SHP is advancing research that moves beyond discovery into better care—from mobile interventions to prevent late-stage melanoma to new approaches for stroke recovery, and funded studies supporting recovery from opioid and alcohol use disorder.

Read the story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/science-that-powers-progress/

Explore Week 2 (Research): https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/discover/

Download the full PDF:https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/01/FINAL-Rutgers-SHP_2025-Community-Impact-Report-.pdf

The biggest barrier to better health outcomes often isn’t a new drug or device. It’s what happens in the moment of decision.

In Part 1 of 4 in our Rutgers SHP Research Series, see how SHP teams are rethinking behavioral interventions—so evidence-based care actually fits real lives (and closes the gap between discovery and impact).

🎥 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uk1P8DhgkI
🔗 Read the full story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/blog/2026/01/13/rethinking-behavior-change/

Rutgers SHP research helped change veterans’ health policy.

Working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, SHP’s Scott Parrott and team built evidence linking burn pit exposure to serious disease—work that helped push forward the 2022 PACT Act and expand health benefits for veterans.
Read the story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/data-that-made-a-difference/

Explore Week 2 (Research): https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/discover/

Download the full PDF:https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/01/FINAL-Rutgers-SHP_2025-Community-Impact-Report-.pdf

One of the nation’s highest honors for emerging scientists went to Rutgers SHP.
In January 2025, Antonina Mitrofanova received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for research advancing cancer treatment—using computational approaches to predict treatment response and identify new therapeutic targets.

Read the story: https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/u-s-presidential-award-for-cancer-treatment-research/

Explore Week 2 (Research): https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/discover/

Download the full PDF:https://shp.rutgers.edu/community-impact-report/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/01/FINAL-Rutgers-SHP_2025-Community-Impact-Report-.pdf