Deborah Cohen, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the research division. She serves the local academic community through her involvement in the research division's Leadership Committee, and she serves the broader discipline as a regular reviewer for the Annals of Family Medicine. For the last several years, Dr. Cohen has been a breastfeeding counselor for the Nursing Mothers Advisory Counsel (NMAC). This is a community group dedicated to providing free information and support to mothers who want to breastfeed their babies. In addition to her counseling activities, she acted as the Referrals Coordinator for NMAC for the past two years.

Betty Hammond, MD, MPH, Clinical Associate Professor, serves as a member of the Visitation Ministry of The Unitarian Society in East Brunswick and a member of the Society's Personnel Committee. She has served on the following RWJMS committees: Nominating Committee, Academic Standing Committee, Curriculum Committee, Clinical Skills Exam Subcommittee, Honor Code Subcommittee, Subcommittee on Curriculum Monitoring, and Admissions Committee. She had also served as class representative to the RWJMS Alumni Association.

Dr. Cathryn Heath, MD, FAAFP, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery United Methodist Church in Skillman, NJ. Active in the choir, she was part of the team that spearheaded the acquisition and funding for the church's new $200,000 pipe organ.

Within the medical realm, she has been on the review panel for proposals for the Northeast Regional Society of Teachers of Family Medicine yearly meeting for the last seven years. She has also volunteered to teach in the family medicine regional consortium course "Advanced Life Saving in Obstetrics" for the last eight years, and has served as the Course Director in September 2001 and September 1999. She is a reviewer for the American Family Physician and Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

John Heath, MD, Associate Professor, is a geriatrician and treats patients at our Monument Square office. He also initiated and directs the following projects:

Linking Geriatrics with Adult Protective Services - "LGAPS", an ongoing project initiated through Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's New Jersey Health Initiatives support (Project #035783; 6/99 – 1200; $300,000) that continues to serve Middlesex and Somerset county's Board of Social Service's Adult Protective Service (APS) units in providing in-home assessments of victims of elder mistreatment. Geriatric Services

Senior Health Capacity Assessment Services: An outgrowth of the LGAPS project focused on serving the needs of the legal community and private caregivers rather than APS social workers, the Senior Health Capacity Assessment Service provides a consultative, multidisciplinary assessment of decision-making capacity and future care planning needs to caregivers of older adults in the community and their attorneys who may be assisting in elder care planning concerns. Designed specifically not to be a clinical consultation, we have assisted lawyers in reviewing testamentary capacities, reviewed geriatric care manager recommendations, and provided depositions related to contested wills.

Geriatric Long-Term Care Clinical Quality Technical Assistance Consulting  Dr. Heath has led a team of clinicians and administrative staff from the department in prior consultative efforts evaluating a large Middlesex County Long-term care facility's clinical practices as part of a contract ($75,000) with the Robert Wood Johnson Health Network. This experience facilitated Dr. Health's current contractual work with the Care One network of subacute skilled nursing and rehabilitative facilities in New Jersey (22) in performing inter-facility quality assessments.

David Howarth, MD, MPH, Associate Professor cares for family practice patients at our Ferren Mall Health Center. He also directs the Geriatric Fellowship. He works with fellows, residents and medical students in providing clinical services low/moderate income Senior Housing facilities in North and New Brunswick.

Dr. Howarth also supervises the home visit program in which residents provide home care to individuals who are unable to make it to a doctor's office.

Paula Krauser, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, is on the Board of Trustees for New Jersey Health Decisions, an organization dedicated to educating citizens, health care providers, and public officials about bio-ethical issues and medical options. She is an advisor to the  NJ senate health committee and in that capacity has been appointed to legislative commissions, most recently to the governor's council on chronic pain management policies.  She is the Medical Director of the Martin and Edith Stein Hospice serving patients in Middlesex and Somerset counties. She serves on several community ethics committees which exist to aid individuals and organizations in making difficult medical decisions. Dr. Krauser also participates in several speakers' bureaus that offer health-related programs to the public.

Jeffrey P. Levine, MD, MPH served as Chair of the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services' Interagency Council on Osteoporosis (ICO). He also served on the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 's Curriculum Committee and as a faculty member for the Center for Marital and Sexual Health. Dr. Levine also served on the Medical Advisory Board of the New Jersey Family Planning League.

Dr. Levine continues to provide specialized women's health services to underserved patients at St. John's, Trinity, and CHC, as part of the Women's Health Without Walls program. He also participated in the planning and hosting of an Osteoporosis Awareness Night for patients at St. John's, providing onsite osteoporosis prevention education, screening, and treatment.

Robert C. Like, MD, MS is Professor and Director of the Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity. He is a practicing family physician with a background in medical anthropology, and is nationally known for his work in the area of cultural competency, health professions education, and the elimination of health care disparities. He is actively involved in research, and provides training and technical assistance relating to the delivery of patient-centered, culturally responsive care to diverse populations.

Dr. Like is involved in numerous community service activities and has served on variety of expert panels, advisory boards, committees, and task forces. At UMDNJ, he is a member of the Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities' Science Planning and Review Board; the project team for the Bildner Family Foundation-funded New Jersey Campus Diversity Initiative grant entitled, "Developing Cultural Competency Standards at UMDNJ”; and the RWJMS Community Health Activities Group. In the Northeast Region and New Jersey, he is a Member of the Steering Committee, Northeast Consortium on Cross-Cultural Medical Education and Practice; the Advisory Committee, the New Jersey Mental Health Institute's project entitled, "Changing Minds, Advancing Mental Health for Hispanics"; the New Jersey Statewide Network for Cultural Competence; and the Association for Retarded Citizens of New Jersey's Mainstreaming Medical Care Advisory Board.

Nationally, Dr. Like has served as the co-chair of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine's Group on Multicultural Health Care and Education"; the Medical Society of New Jersey 's Representative to the Commission to End Health Care Disparities, American Medical Association and National Medical Association; and as a member of the DHHS Office of Minority Health's CLAS Standards National Project Advisory Committee; the Expert Team for the Health Resources and Services Administration/ Magna Systems Incorporated contract, "Centers of Excellence Cultural Competence Assessment and Curriculum Development Project; the National Medical Association's Continuing Medical Education External Review Panel; the National Advisory Committee, Georgetown National Center for Cultural Competence; and the Advisory Board for HIV Prevention and Higher Education Project, Association of American Colleges and Universities' Program on Health and Higher Education. Internationally, he has served as Expert Consultant to the World Health Organization/ European Union's “Migrant–Friendly Hospitals Initiative to Promote the Health and Health Literacy of Migrants and Ethnic Minorities," Subproject C – Improving Cultural Competence: Training Hospital Staff for Providing Cross-Cultural Health Care.

Dr Like has received a variety of awards including the 2004 Distinguished Service in the Health Field Award from the National Association of Medical Minority Educators, and was a 2004 Pfizer/American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Visiting Professor in Family Medicine.

Click here for more information about the Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity.

BJ McGarry, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, is a Life Skills Teacher for the Hillsborough Township School District, teaching classes to elementary school kids about drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention as well as good nutrition, self esteem and character building units. She is also an Art Appreciation Teacher for the District and member of AAUW - American Association of University Women - a nationwide organization that encourages women to pursue higher education and ensures fair and equitable treatment of women in the workplace and in educational opportunities. Dr. McGarry also volunteers as a preceptor for the RWJ medical students Promise Clinic.

Michelle McWeeney, MS-PA-C, Assistant Professor and Physician Assistant, sees patients full time at St. John's Family Health Center in New Brunswick, NJ. She provides clinical care for uninsured and underinsured patients in New Brunswick and surrounding communities. She is also the President of the New Jersey Physician Assistant Foundation. She participates in the Angel Connection, a yearly program during the holidays to provide gifts to HIV positive children around the state. She also participates in a program to teach the Girl Scouts and Brownies about their bodies and health. She serves on the admissions committee for the UMDNJ Physician Assistant Program, and serves as a preceptor for the summer COPC program at St. Johns. She also participates in a shadowing program for prospective Physician Assistant students.

Robert Monaco, MD, MPH, is an associate professor and Director of the Department's Sports Medicine Fellowship and Rutgers University Sports Medicine Department. He has certificates of added qualifications in sports medicine and adolescent medicine.  He is actively involved in sports related activities in the community through the fellowship program. He lectures to community organizations and professional groups on exercise and wellness related topics.  He also helps provides medical coverage to numerous community and state sporting events.

John Scott, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor, a member of our research division and an assistant director of the NRSA primary care research fellowship. He is a member of the board of directors of the New Jersey Family Physician's Research Network, as well as a member of the UMG Quality Indicators Working Group. He serves as an adviser to family medicine residents in the development of their scholarly research projects and volunteers as a preceptor in the Promise Clinic, a free clinic for the indigent initiated and staffed by medical students.

Alfred F. Tallia, MD is Professor and Chairman of the Department. Also a member of the Graduate School faculty of Rutgers University, he was named a Master Educator by UMDNJ in 2002. The founder of the school's health policy fellowship, he has provided consultation to many members of the legislative and executive branches of state government on health related matters. As a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), he is engaged in development and oversight of competency assessment requirements for physicians in the United States. He also chairs the governing committee of the United States Post Licensure Assessment System, a joint operation of the NBME and Federation of State Medical Boards that provides assessment services to community physicians. Additionally, he serves as a quality peer reviewer and consultant for the New Jersey physician community and NJ Board of Medical Examiners.

As the former Director of Graduate Medical Education for the department, he led the development of the medical school's flagship New Brunswick based residency widely recognized for providing innovative community based training for family physicians. Many of the department's community outreach efforts were begun under his leadership, including joint programs with Catholic Charities, Saint Peters and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospitals, the Middlesex county health department, and others serving the poor and underserved. He has served on numerous community boards, as a consultant to health insurers including the state Medicaid plan and others, and is currently on the Board of the Francis E. Parker Memorial Homes of New Brunswick and Piscataway. He maintains an active primary care practice caring for multi-generational, multiethnic families drawn from the academic and local communities of central New Jersey.

Karen Wei-Ru Lin, MD, MS, is an Associate Professor of the Department of Family Medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. In addition to her administrative responsibilities as Assistant Director for the Family Medicine Residency, she is a family physician who integrates acupuncture into her clinical family practice.

Dr. Lin has been an active member on University campus, served on the Admissions, Alternative Medicine, as well as the Multicultural Education Committees. She received an Appreciation Award and a Teaching Award from Family medicine Residency, a Faculty merit Award from UMDNJ-RWJ Medical School. She is one of the volunteer preceptors for the Promise Clinic – a medical students, run weekly health clinic for underserved population. She is the Medical Director of Integrative Healing Program, board member of Women's Wellness and Healthcare Connection, and established the Chinese American Medicine Initiative at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

Dr. Lin is one of the recipients of the NAACP Charles Drew Medical Award; Leadership Award and Distinguished Volunteer Award of American Cancer Society. She is the medical advisor to the Health Advisory Commission of Piscataway Township, a committee member of NJ EASE for Caregivers Advisory Committee, the President of Board on American Cancer Society-Middlesex County, and the Advisor to ACS-NJ Chinese Unit. She is one of the Alumni mentors for “Beyond the Banks” for students at Rutgers University. She was a volunteer physician for local Girl Scouts troop and Chinese Schools Summer Camp. Aside from Medicine, she was the past president of the Chinese American Cultural Association, elected fellow of Leadership New Jersey, and one of the announcers for the Chinese Radio Network.