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Articles by Rob Russo
Caught by chance: Pope Leo diagnosis shows gaps in lung cancer screening
Pope Leo never smoked. By all accounts, the first American pope played tennis and worked with a personal trainer during his years as a cardinal. He has lung cancer anyway. The 71-year-old pontiff was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of the disease. On Oct. 13, surgeons at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital removed the lower lobe of his right lung in a 90-minute, video-assisted operation that the Vatican called successful. The cancer was caught early, as a small, contained nodule.
Care without cost: Bergen New Bridge picks up the tab for mammograms in October
Uninsured women are about half as likely to get a mammogram as women overall. For the rest of October, Bergen New Bridge Medical Center is trying to close that gap — by picking up the tab. The Paramus hospital is covering the full cost of mammography for uninsured patients and paying the difference for underinsured patients through the end of the month. It’s the fifth year of the hospital’s “October is on Us” campaign, which marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Training nursing students for tomorrow … today, thanks to J&J
The mannequins in Rutgers-Camden’s nursing lab are about to get a lot smarter. Soon, students in the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden won’t just practice on static training dummies — they’ll work with high-fidelity patient simulators, electronic medical record systems and AI-enabled simulation technology designed to mirror the exact equipment they’ll use once they’re working nurses.
Room to grow: Inside Inspira’s expanded maternity unit at Mullica Hill
Inspira’s expansion of its maternity unit doesn’t just mean more beds. It means a better experience. Earlier this month, Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill opened an expanded maternity unit that nearly doubles the hospital’s maternity footprint to about 36,000 square feet, raising staffed maternity beds from 20 to 38. But the square footage only tells part of the story. A mother used to deliver her baby at Mullica Hill and stay in that same room — same bed, same four walls — through recovery.
BINJE’s BEST Health Care Leaders 2026: Top 12 Health Care CEOs (Alphabetically)
Brenner has Valley operating at full throttle as demand surges across the system. The new Paramus hospital has drawn record patient volumes, prompting Valley to propose a major expansion of its patient-care wing and accelerate investments in surgical, cardiac and maternal services. Valley also opened its new Montvale specialty campus, strengthening access to orthopedics, women’s health and advanced imaging.
BINJE’s BEST Health Care Leaders 2026: Organizations & Associations
Azam is a go-to voice on health care policy in New Jersey and nationally, working with providers and elected officials toward one core goal: making sure everyone has access to affordable coverage. Bennett has kept NJHA pushing on two fronts in 2026 — advocacy around federal Medicaid cuts and a new technology alliance with Jade Global aimed at cutting administrative red tape and expanding AI use across the association’s roughly 400 member hospitals, health systems and post-acute providers.
Freedom from Fibroids: How a non-invasive treatment at HMH is helping women
In so many ways and for so many years, Kristin Larew’s life mirrored that of so many other 45-year-old mothers of two in Northern New Jersey. “I spend a lot of my weekends at various sports games — going from the soccer field to the baseball field,” she said. Two years ago, that changed. Larew began suffering from a condition she couldn’t control: Uterine fibroids. It’s a condition marked by debilitating symptoms and unpredictability, creating a quality-of-life condition that she couldn’t control.
RWJBH showing how AI can saves lives
Hospitalized patients don’t always decline with warning. Vital signs shift, lab values drift — and by the time it’s obvious to the naked eye, the window to intervene has narrowed. That’s the gap RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School set out to close with an AI-enabled early warning system, called the Epic Deterioration Index. The tool continuously scans information already sitting in a patient’s electronic health record and recalculates a risk score every 15 minutes.
Baker Donelson: Building the bench
A health care law firm’s biggest advantage in New Jersey can also be its biggest limit. That’s the lesson Anjana Patel and her colleagues at Baker Donelson have learned since launching the firm’s first two New Jersey offices in April 2025 — and it’s shaping how they’re building out their newest one. Baker Donelson’s MetroPark office has moved into a permanent home, an 11,200-square-foot buildout at 111 Wood Avenue South in Iselin.
BINJE’s BEST Health Care Leaders 2026: Hospital Leaders & Executives
Acito runs the full scope of nursing and patient care at Holy Name, spanning critical care, surgical services, inpatient care and telemedicine. She works closely with administrative and physician leadership to keep safety and quality initiatives sharp across the medical center.
The caring college: Hudson County CC wins another national mental health excellence award
Students walk into college carrying far more than textbooks and a phone. Family pressure and financial obligations can easily lead to anxiety or depression. At Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, the response isn’t to look away from that reality, it’s to build systems that meet it head-on. That approach has earned the college national recognition for the second year in a row.
BINJE’s BEST Health Care Leaders 2026: Health Care chairs
Banks, the former Bank of America investment chief and current chair of Liberty Bank, has reshaped HMH’s governance profile. Under his leadership, the board added seven nationally recognized figures across medicine, finance and technology — a deliberate move to match the system’s ambitions in research, innovation and growth. His dual perspective in health care and banking gives him uncommon strategic reach, positioning HMH to compete at a higher level.
Q&A: How little-known NJCMO is helping kids in crisis learn to cope
New Jersey runs the only statewide children’s mental health system in the country — and by James Parauda’s own admission, many of the people who could benefit from it have never heard of it. Parauda is president of NJCMO, the association representing New Jersey’s 15 Care Management Organizations, and CEO of Tri County CMO, which covers Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties from its base in Branchburg.
Helping hand: Matheny has spent eight decades caring for New Jersey’s most medically complex patients
For 80 years, Matheny has held on to one idea: that people with the most medically complex developmental disabilities deserve to live with dignity, opportunity and joy. The organization was founded in 1946 after Walter and Marguerite Matheny’s son, Chuck, was born with cerebral palsy. It has grown into a nationally recognized special hospital and nonprofit private school based in Peapack.
When a corporate HQ becomes a community investment
A headquarters move is never just a real estate decision. It’s a statement — to customers, to employees, and sometimes, to the communities in which you relocate. Few New Jersey moves in recent memory make that case better than South Jersey Gas’s 2018 return to Atlantic City — and few executives will say so more plainly than Mike Renna, who oversaw it then and is now retiring as CEO of South Jersey Industries after nearly three decades with the company.
Circulate NJ shifts from defense to offense
Circulate NJ was born out of a data problem. In 2024, when the coalition’s founders looked at the 10 most-read articles about industrial development, they learned that nine of them were negative — painting an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people across the state as little more than a source of truck traffic and warehouse sprawl. The group set out to balance that narrative, member by member, story by story. Circulate NJ has had some success.
BINJE’s BEST Commercial Real Estate Leaders 2026: Sector Stars
The architect of two of New Jersey’s most influential real estate gatherings continues to expand the Summits’ reach, drawing bigger crowds, deeper programming and an evergrowing roster of national-level speakers. His events have become essential convenings for anyone shaping the future of the state’s urban markets. Their Morristown studio keeps delivering standout work across the region, from high-performance workplaces to major sports and entertainment facilities.
JLL’s Cruz: Why there’s a deeper buyer pool — but slower pace of deals
Ask Jose Cruz to sum up the commercial real estate market in one word, and he can’t do it — and he’ll tell you why before you even finish the question. “There’s a lot of different kind of trends going on,” he said. The buyer pool is deeper than it’s been in two or three years, he said, with institutions back closing on retail and multifamily and increasing their exposure to industrial. Office remains mostly a private buyer’s game, though Cruz said national groups are starting to show up there too.
Why Greek is buying again
David Greek is buying land at a pace Greek Real Estate Partners hasn’t seen in roughly a decade — and he’s doing it in a year when most developers are sitting on their hands. “This is not an easy time at all to acquire land,” he said. “The pricing is still very up in the air, and there’s a lot of uncertainty around the outlook and the economy and rents.” Greek, managing partner of the family-run industrial developer, is jumping in.
How Profeta Real Estate Center at NJIT is already reshaping campus
NJIT didn’t need a slide deck to explain why it needed a real estate center. It just needed to point out the window.
Re-use done right: Why Montvale’s biggest win isn’t what’s being built — but what isn’t
Like all mayors, Mike Ghassali of Montvale is eager to have new companies bring vacated properties back to life — and back into the tax base. In Montvale, there was no bigger hope than to find a new tenant for the large campus on Summit Avenue that served as the home for approximately 200 Western Union employees before the company consolidated its operations elsewhere in the years following the pandemic. But when the first proposal came for more townhomes, Ghassali was not exactly celebrating.
BINJE’s BEST Commercial Real Estate Leaders 2026: Brokers
A fixture in New Jersey brokerage, he has completed millions of square feet in transactions for marquee clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, KPMG, SONY and Citigroup. A member of CBRE’s elite Colbert Coldwell Circle, he remains one of the firm’s most trusted advisors nationally.
BINJE’s BEST Commercial Real Estate Leaders 2026: Developers
The residential building at Hoboken Connect — 386 units — is expected to be complete by next spring. LCOR has already finished much of the public realm work around the Hoboken train station. Ironstate is preparing to break ground on a second Urby tower in Harborside and continues expanding the Urby brand into new markets nationally. David Barry remains active with the Liberty Science Center board.
Splash of relief: Saint Peter’s University Hospital is using a heat-free waterjet — and AI — to treat one of the most common, least-discussed conditions in men over 50
One in two men between the ages of 51 and 60 will develop an enlarged prostate. Almost all of them — 99 percent, according to industry data — say it meaningfully diminishes their quality of life. And yet, according to Dr. Richard Ioffreda, a urologist at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, many of those men delay treatment anyway. “Many patients delay treatment because they are worried about the potential impact on their sexual or urinary function,” he said.
Personal touch: From a peer-run grief group to a community garden, Richard Moses is building spaces where men can open up — starting with his own story
Richard Moses has been married 22 years. He has three daughters. He has spent years balancing a two-income household, a marriage, and his own mental health struggles — and he has learned that the fastest way to get a room full of men to open up is to … start with stories about his own struggles. “A lot of times with men, we were socialized to believe whatever the problem is in front of you, you package it, you compartmentalize it, and you keep going,” Moses said.
Honest conversations: Why having a forum to discuss health openly and honestly is key to care for gay and bisexual men
June is a unique month in health care. It is both Men’s Health Month and Pride Month, offering an important opportunity to recognize the diverse health needs of our communities while reinforcing a simple but powerful principle: health care works best when it is personalized. Every patient brings a unique story, life experience and set of health care needs. Yet for many gay and bisexual men, accessing care has not always been easy.
Quite a journey: Maryland man says it was more than worth the trip to travel to HUMC to get prostate cancer treatment from Ahmed
For Eric Lewanda, an avid hiker and chemist from Maryland, life has always been about navigating trails, both on the mountain and in the lab. But when a routine PSA test revealed prostate cancer, he faced his most daunting path yet. With a family history deeply marked by the disease, an uncle and a brother both diagnosed, with his brother sadly passing away at 66, Lewanda knew this was a journey he had to navigate with precision and the best possible guide.
Worthy of attention: Welcome to BINJE’s first Men’s Health special edition — a look at the challenges men face, and the people across New Jersey working to address them
Let’s start with this acknowledgement: For centuries, nearly all aspects of health care were created by — and designed for — men. Thankfully, the unique health care needs of women have been recognized and addressed. The same can be said for the unique needs of people of color, men and women. All of that can be true, without taking away from this: men’s health care does have some unique challenges, some of which are discussed in the first Men’s Health special edition by BINJE. Start with the numbers.
New dads: One in 10 new fathers experience postpartum depression — and a Hackensack Meridian Health psychologist says barely any of those cases ever get recorded
Everyone knows postpartum depression affects mothers. Fewer people know it affects fathers too — and almost nobody is measuring it. Roughly 1 in 10 men experience paternal postpartum depression. If their partner is also experiencing it, that number jumps to 50 percent. Experts estimate only about 10 percent of those cases ever get officially recorded. The math is straightforward. Most cases simply aren’t being counted.
Numbers game: Dr. Waqas Malick says most men don’t know their LDL number — or that getting it low enough can actually reverse plaque already in their arteries
If you’ve had a heart attack, your LDL cholesterol should be below 55. Most patients have never heard that number. Dr. Waqas Malick hears it every day. “At those levels, that’s when you can achieve plaque regression,” said Malick, who directs the Lipids and Cardiometabolic Disease Program for Valley Medical Group, part of Valley Health System. Below 55 milligrams per deciliter, the body doesn’t just stop adding plaque to artery walls — it can actually start reversing it. The problem is getting there.
Relax: Just do it: Prostate cancer cases are rising. Men still aren’t being tested. Novartis and the NFL are trying to change that.
During one of the biggest days of the year for men — Super Bowl Sunday — Novartis teamed up with the NFL to deliver an educational message. Prostate cancer screening doesn’t start with an invasive physical exam. It starts with a blood test. The campaign has come and gone. The problem it was trying to solve is getting worse. *** New data from the American Cancer Society tells a story that should get every New Jersey man’s attention.
Hiding in Plain Sight: Inspira’s Joe O’Brien on the middle-aged men nobody is checking on, and why looking fine is sometimes the biggest warning sign
A cardiac rehab team called Joe O’Brien with a problem. A middle-aged man had come through their program after a sudden, severe heart attack — the kind nobody saw coming. He had a job. He had a family. On paper, by every visible measure, he was fine. As part of standard intake, the rehab team ran him through a depression screening. He scored over 20 — a serious red flag. When they asked how he was feeling, he wasn’t vague about it. He told them he wasn’t sure life was worth living.
Planning pays off: Goya Presents Flag Cities shows how early vision — and smart execution — can turn the World Cup into a statewide opportunity
It’s factual to say Goya Presents Flag Cities, a series being produced in partnership with Hackensack Meridian Health, will be New Jersey’s premier World Cup fan festival series. It’s necessary to say that, thanks to a grant from Choose New Jersey through the N.J. Economic Development Authority, the series was able to add two more locations, increasing the number of events to seven. And it’s fun to say the series will now feature the Village People and Soulja Boy.
Past and present: For De La Hoz, trip to U.S. from Colombia in 1994 to see World Cup became the impetus for his immigration to the country
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was more than a soccer tournament for me. It was a coming-of-age story, a family sacrifice, an emotional rollercoaster, and unknowingly, the beginning of a deeper connection to the United States and eventually to New Jersey. I was a college student in Colombia when my mother won a raffle through a savings program known as a “cédula de capitalización.” The prize was the money to purchase two flight tickets to the United States during the World Cup.
All energy: Heather Long brings plenty of spirit — and sunshine — to her role as Business Development lead at BINJE
A few years after graduating cum laude from FDU — and a few years before establishing herself as one of the top B2B sales leaders in New Jersey — Heather Long packed everything she owned, or at least everything she could fit, into her Mazda3 and made her way to Southern California. Hollywood. Sunshine. Action. A spot near Marina del Ray.
Top-tier talent: New Jersey and Philly land matches featuring No. 1 France and seven of the Top 15 countries in world
Think the expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup will lack star power? Take a look at the nations coming to play at least one first-round match at MetLife Stadium. And if that’s not enough, Morocco (currently No. 8 in the world) will make an appearance, as will Norway, featuring one of the top young scorers in the game: Erling Haaland.
BINJE’s BEST Stem Leaders: Why Craig Arnold is No. 1
Arnold represents the highest standard of STEM education, a rare combination of world‑class researcher, transformative educator and innovation leader. The Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton, where he also serves as Vice Dean for Innovation since 2022, Arnold has built a career defined by scholarship, mentorship and a commitment to translating scientific discovery into real‑world impact.
BINJE’s Best: Higher Education 2026: STEM
Bader is one of NJIT’s most visible leaders in artificial intelligence and data science, helping shape research priorities, public dialogue and workforce-oriented thinking around AI, high-performance computing and emerging technologies. He is also a nationally-recognized figure in computing history. In 2025, Bader was inducted into the MIMMs Museum of Technology and Art Hall of Fame, reflecting a career that includes pioneering work on the first Linux supercomputer.
BINJE’s BEST Stem Programs Leader: Why N.J. AI Hub is No. 1
Just over a year after announcing an ambitious “AI moonshot,” the state broke ground on what has quickly become one of its most consequential higher-education-driven economic initiatives involving STEM: N.J. AI Hub in Princeton. Launched through a partnership among Princeton University, Microsoft, CoreWeave and the N.J. Economic Development Authority, the NJ AI Hub was conceived as more than a research center.
BINJE’s Best Higher Education 2026: Campus Leaders
Getting a job is just as important as getting a degree. That’s why Barrows launched PowerPaths, a required, university-wide career-experience program that ensures all students graduate with hands-on learning through internships, research, civic engagement or applied coursework.Barrows has helped drive job placement that exceed the national average by five percentage points. Bokunewicz, who has led LIGHT since 2020, announced she is retiring on June 30.
BINJE’s Best Higher Education 2026: 4-year schools
Acebo’s tenure as president will soon conclude as New Jersey City University merges into Kean University this summer. His impact, however, will endure. When Acebo took office in January 2023, NJCU was facing an acute financial crisis and the very real prospect of insolvency.
AI is everywhere: New courses, new degrees, new scholarships are part of push toward artificial intelligence education
The N.J. AI Hub, which includes Princeton among its original founders, certainly showed how much interest higher education is taking in the study of artificial intelligence. It didn’t show the depth. New courses, degrees and scholarship opportunities sprung up everywhere in the state.
Be happy … and kind: Unique programs at Centenary, Rowan, Rutgers and FDU teach well-being — and so much more
Dr. Happy? Sounds good to us. And it’s now possible at Centenary University. The school, building on the success of its Master of Arts in Happiness Studies, launched the world’s first Ph.D. in Happiness Studies, slated to launch in a fully virtual format for the fall 2025 semester.
Better together: Kean positions NJCU for long‑term stability through integration, creation of Kean Jersey City
Kean University and New Jersey City University are a few months away from what leaders on both campuses describe as a transformative merger — one designed to strengthen access, stability and opportunity in New Jersey’s public higher‑education system. The merger comes at a pivotal moment for NJCU, which has emerged from its financial challenges, recently receiving its third consecutive outlook upgrade from Moody’s Investors Service. It has improved from negative to stable to positive.
More than a list: The 2026 BINJE’s Best: Higher Education Leaders is a year-end reflection on the people, programs and progress that defined the academic year
Lots of media entities publish lists of higher-education leaders. You know the format: a headshot, a brief capsule, maybe a No. 1 selection. We wanted to do more than that. At BINJE, our 2026 BINJE’s Best: Higher Education Leaders is designed as a complete review of the academic year that’s finishing up. But it’s more than a yearbook; it’s an end-of-the-term group project — one that reflects the people, programs and priorities shaping higher education right now.
College or the trades: Why not both?
We have a new answer to the old question: College or the trades? How about both? In an era where more skilled workers are needed — and the desire to get a degree remains high — numerous unions and education institutions are partnering to achieve both goals. Robert Smith, the Executive Director and Chief Administration Officer of the Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Technical Centers, explains how.
New schools: Schools built on computing, financial planning, social transformation mark a changing landscape in higher ed
At Stevens, there’s a new school of computing. At Rowan, there’s a new school for financial planning. Montclair State is launching a school for social transformation. Drew went a step farther, it announced a school that it feels will radically reframe higher education. At a time when some are questioning whether a four-year degree is what’s needed in this day and age, universities up and down the state are announcing new schools that show they are keeping up with the times.
Building blocks: A new campus at Rowan — and new facilities at WPU, NJIT, Seton Hall and Stockton
Rowan University unveiled plans earlier this spring for a $690 million West Campus Development Project in Gloucester County that school officials feel will dramatically reshape the region while transforming higher education and workforce development. The multiphase initiative will pair an intergenerational wellness community with a center for manufacturing innovation on the school’s West Campus at the intersection of Routes 55 and 322 in Harrison Township and Glassboro.
BINJE’s BEST Higher Education Leaders: Why Lei Lei is No. 1
Since becoming dean of Rutgers Business School in 2015, Lei has built a national model for equitable student success — one that delivers exceptional return on investment while expanding access, opportunity and upward mobility. Her leadership reflects Rutgers University’s public mission at its best: opening doors, preparing students for high-impact careers and ensuring that talent, not background, determines outcomes.
BINJE’s BEST Community College Leaders: Why Anthony Iacono is No. 1
During his nearly ten years of leading the school, Iacono has helped the County College of Morris earn a reputation for connecting its students to the local and state economy in a variety of sectors, including technology. That status was cemented when CCM was named one of only two community colleges selected for New Jersey’s first U.S. Department of Labor–Registered Data Scientist/AI Apprenticeship, a partnership with the Princeton-based New Jersey AI Hub.
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