By Melissa Hayes, State House Bureau. The Record.

CAMDEN – On a site once occupied by a methadone clinic and abandoned buildings, state and local officials celebrated the opening Tuesday of a medical school in Camden that was 40 years in the making.

Christie Norcross
MITSU YASUKAWA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Governor Christie and George E. Norcross III, chairman of Cooper Board of Trustees, examine their scissors before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“As you take a walk around this beautiful building today, you can see the community is changing,” state Sen. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, whose father first envisioned the school four decades ago. “In addition to that, it’s changing lives.”

The dedication of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, where Governor Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, helped cut the ribbon, carried with it hope for a city that has the highest crime rate in the nation.

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