Strategic Initiatives
Delaware Health Sciences Alliance
The Delaware Health Sciences Alliance - a partnership of Christiana Care Health System, Nemours, Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Delaware - is dedicated to providing the finest healthcare education, to conducting research at the forefront of the health sciences that addresses today's most pressing health concerns and to improving regional health and health services.
The Alliance partners will pursue a vision for the future of health care in Delaware that is dedicated to: providing the finest health care education for all health professionals, conducting interdisciplinary clinical and translational research that generates new knowledge to address today’s most pressing health concerns, and improving state and regional health and health care services.
Delaware Health Sciences Alliance Board Members
- Thomas P. Ferry, MD – Chief Executive Officer
- Janice E. Nevin, MD, PMH – Senior Vice President / Executive Director
- Theresa A. Gillis, MD – Medical Director
- Kerry Tobias, DO
- Brian W. Little, MD, PhD – Vice President, Academic Affairs
- Richard Derman, MD – Chair, OB/GYN
- Sharon Kurfuerst, EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA – Administrative Director - Rehabilitation Services
- James H. Newman, MD – Chief Medical Officer
- Paula L. Stillman, MD, MBA – Senior Vice President, Special Projects & President, Health Initiatives
- Debbie I. Chang, MPH – Senior Vice President & Executive Director
- Judy Bachman – Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives
- James B. Erdmann, PhD – Dean, College of Health Professions
- Janice Marini – Chief of Staff
- David L. Paskin, MD – Senior Associate Dean, Graduate Medical Education/Affiliates
- Bruce Smith, MD – Associate Vice President for Research & Professor of Medicine
- Michael J. Vergare, MD – Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
- Leonard Freedman, PhD – Vice Dean for Research
- Tom Apple, PhD – Provost
- Mark Barteau, PhD – Senior Provost-Research Office
- Kathleen S. Matt, PhD – Dean, College of Health Sciences
- Daniel Rich, PHD – Acting Executive Director of DHSA & University Professor of Public Policy
- Steven J. Stanhope PhD – Professor HNES
- Karl V. Steiner, D-Ing – Associate Provost for Interdisciplinary Research & INBRE Program Coordinator
- Carolyn Thoroughgood, PhD – Special Assistant to Provost, DBI
- George H. Watson, PhD – Deputy Dean, College of Art & Sciences
- Patricia Wilson – Vice President & Chief of Staff
Delaware Rehabilitation Institute
The Delaware Rehabilitation Institute will be devoted to the research, training and practice of physical rehabilitation. It will include the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance faculty in the areas of biological and health sciences, engineering, disability studies and public policy, bringing together a core of faculty with common research interests and existing collaborations as well as additional relevant faculty to generate new and compelling collaborations in the area of rehabilitation.
Our aim is to provide a place for clinicians, scientists, engineers and policy-makers to work together to improve the state-of-the-art in rehabilitation medicine. Because of our existing strengths, we are well positioned to create a world-class institute that would be ranked in the top five on international scales. In addition to the four Alliance partners, the Delaware Rehabilitation Institute will provide opportunities for participation from clinicians at BayHealth Medical Center, Beebe Medical Center and other hospitals as well as faculty from other Delaware higher education institutions, including Delaware State University and Delaware Technical Community College.
Delaware Center for Cancer Biology
The Delaware Center for Cancer Biology (DCCB), is an inter-institutional translational research alliance between the University of Delaware (UD), Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), Christiana Care Health System (CCHS) and the Nemours Biomedical Research at the Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children (Nemours).
This new Center addresses an urgent public health issue – Delaware has one of the highest cancer mortality rates in the nation – by building on the unique research capability that has been established among the four partner institutions. In addition to the Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) at TJU and the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center (HFGCC) at CCHS, the DCCB will benefit from the expertise and facilities available at the Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research (NCCCR) and the Center for Translational Cancer Research (CTCR) as a strong inter-institutional collaboration among researchers from UD, CCHS, Nemours and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI).
