Denise V. Rodgers, MD, FAAFP, Celebrated for Groundbreaking Career at Rutgers Health and REACH
February 11, 2026
Colleagues and friends from Rutgers and the community gathered in Newark in the late afternoon of December 15, 2025 to bid a fond, if reluctant, farewell to Dr. Denise Rodgers, Vice Chancellor for Interprofessional Programs at Rutgers Health, professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), and principal investigator at Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH).
The full breadth of Rodgers’ storied career became clear as leaders from across the university took the podium in turn, each sharing memories that spoke to the ways Rodgers has made a difference at Rutgers and beyond. Among them were Kim Fenesy, DMD, vice dean, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine; Susan Paparella-Pitzel, DPT, associate professor, School of Health Professions; and Meredith Mullane, MA, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Rutgers Health.
“What sets Denise apart,” Mullane said, “is her unwavering insistence that we ask the hard question: ‘Who is still being left behind?’”
Working as a family physician caring for underserved patients and communities, Rodgers saw first-hand the detrimental health outcomes resulting from inequities in housing, education, food access, and other social determinants. This insight was the seed from which REACH was grown.
Reposted from Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health