About the Center for Discovery & Innovation

The CDI was established to take advantage of the extensive clinical assets of one of the region’s largest and most comprehensive health care systems. As an academic accelerator, the CDI represents a unique translational ecosystem to integrate academic scientists with clinicians as well as small and large companies with the objective of taking innovative science and moving it rapidly into clinical settings to improve patient outcomes. Collaborations distinguish CDI including its interest in partnering with innovative life science companies - some of which will be located on site in state-of-the-art research and development (R&D) lab and office space. This highly integrated network includes the strong partnerships of researchers, physicians and health care professionals at Hackensack Meridian Health’s 17 network hospitals as well as the faculty and medical students of the School of Medicine located on campus. Other partners are HMH’s John Theurer Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute-designated Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the New York Genome Center which provide access to thousands of patients and greatly expand CDI’s impact. CDI Translational Ecosystem accelerates science application for patients by developing tests, treatments, and preventions for unmet clinical needs. This involves CDI scientific teams collaborating with experienced medical professionals and researching specific diseases in-depth, in order to introduce more effective mechanisms for improving clinical outcomes and thereby alter or redefine existing standards of care. CDI translational-science model is driven by a combination of incentive-based systems that have improved patient outcomes as a key metric. It is agile and dynamic to rapidly address novel challenges. The principal outcome is disease intervention and/or prevention, often resulting in a change in standard-of-care, which may involve development of a marketable drug, vaccine or diagnostic.

Our Mission

Our mission is to develop and rapidly translate innovations in biomedical sciences to better prevent and treat life-threatening diseases.

Our Vision

Our vision is to be a proven leader in the innovative application of discovery science to improve human health for people with cancer, infectious diseases, behavioral health and other disabling and chronic conditions.