Stanton Named to NJBIZ ‘Power 50 for Education’

NUTLEY, NJ — Bonita Stanton, the founding dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, was named to NJBIZ’s “Power 50 for Education,” an annual list of the state’s leaders who in various ways impart “knowledge to students, apprentices and the citizenry at large.”

Stanton, who oversaw the establishment of the newly-independent Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, is one of the executives on the list, which also includes teachers, administrators and public officials.

“We’re proud of the work Dean Stanton and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine is doing to train the best and brightest of New Jersey’s future doctors,” said Robert Garrett, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health.

Stanton, who has helmed the school since its inception in 2016, was also named to last year’s NJBIZ list, which honors individuals who use their authority or influence in a way that contributes toward making New Jersey a better place to live, work and do business. 

“This distinction is very meaningful to us as it validates our mission and vision,” Stanton said. “We appreciate this recognition of all that the team has created to assure that our aspirations for health for all regardless of race and socioeconomic status becomes a reality for the citizens of New Jersey.”

Stanton, a pediatrician and infectious disease expert by training, received her medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine. She earned distinctions as a health investigator living and working in the poorest parts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, studying diarrheal diseases. Research in global HIV prevention earned her accolades in subsequent years. Before coming to the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, she served as chairperson of the Department of Pediatrics and ultimately as vice dean for research at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich.

Stanton is also a researcher, having been continuously funded as a principal investigator on one or more grants from the National Institutes of Health since 1990. She has also authored more than 325 peer-reviewed papers, and has served as editor of several textbooks, including the “Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics.”

  Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine