Rutgers medical students graduate early to help with COVID-19

NEWARK — Rutgers University will graduate 192 students from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School a month early so they can join the front line medical treatment of COVID-19.

The students were scheduled to complete their course requirements in April and graduate in May, with a traditional ceremony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark.

Instead, 154 of them will graduate on April 10 and the rest on April 21. The new doctors will begin their careers with the recitation of the Hippocratic oath during a virtual graduation ceremony.

They recently were matched to their residency locations (March 20) to start work on July 1, but individual locations can put the students to work earlier.

Of the near graduates, 62 were matched to New Jersey hospitals while 58 were paired with hospitals in New York State mostly in New York City.

“I have total confidence that our students are ready to help the cause," NJMS Dean Robert Johnson said. “They have learned and trained at Rutgers and will be much-needed support in our nation’s health care system.”

Students from Rutgers' other medical school, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, also are expected to receive their degrees early, according to a press release from Rutgers.