How Rutgers Is Training Tomorrow’s Public Health Heroes

Since its launch in 2024, the Rutgers Health Service Corps has connected students with faculty and staff to improve population health outcomes throughout New Jersey

When Rutgers University-New Brunswick senior Gerald Reaves arrived on campus four years ago, he had a question that went beyond the usual freshman concerns: Where's the Narcan?

To Reaves, an undergraduate in health administration at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, this wasn't a theoretical query. As a certified emergency medical technician in several New Jersey communities, he'd seen the opioid epidemic up close.

He once administered CPR to a young mother who overdosed in a home without access to Narcan, the opiate reversal nose spray. "She never recovered," he said.

Students are encouraged to serve as health ambassadors in their own communities, sharing important health information with family, friends and loved ones.

So, when Reaves learned that Narcan wasn't widely available to Rutgers students, he joined a group of student and administrative leaders to set about changing that.

Today, Reaves, 21, is part of a student-led volunteer program called the Rutgers Health Service Corps, which connects students from across the university with faculty and staff to improve population health in New Jersey through education, innovation and service.

Members are recruited annually, complete a core training curriculum and serve up to five hours per week working in teams, where they contribute to projects related to community health and education.

Students are encouraged to serve as health ambassadors in their own communities, sharing important health information with family, friends and loved ones. One team provides breast and colorectal cancer screening education and resource navigation to patients in local hospitals in New Brunswick and Newark. Another promotes human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among students to help prevent other cancers.

Launched in 2024, the Service Corps is the post-pandemic extension of the Rutgers VAX Corps, spearheaded by the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and other Rutgers Health schools, which recruited health professionals, students and faculty to support vaccine awareness and distribution.

Now in its third year, the Service Corps has engaged roughly 120 students who have contributed over 3,100 hours of service, with 40 active members currently working on community health projects this academic year.

One of the key initiatives of the corps is the opiate overdose prevention program, which was started by Rutgers Student Health under the leadership of Noa'a Shimoni, associate vice president for student health and wellness. The program enlisted the Rutgers Health Service Corps to lead its operations. Reaves joined the team during the launch of the Service Corps and has played an integral role in helping run the program.

Every week, Reaves and a group of students distribute Narcan kits to Rutgers-New Brunswick student centers. Each kit includes two doses of Naloxone - the active drug in Narcan that can reverse the effects of an overdose from opioids, including heroin and fentanyl, if delivered quickly - provided by the state for free.

Since the program began, students have assembled and distributed nearly 15,000 Narcan emergency nose spray kits throughout the university campus. Members of the Narcan team also have completed Narcan administration training for local emergency medical services units.

Reaves said the goal is to ensure that Narcan is available to anyone who wants it - at Rutgers and beyond.

"We want people to take it, put it in their bags, and even give some to their friends and family," he said. "We encourage sharing, because it enables us to distribute into areas of higher need."

John "Jack" Hemphill, a Rutgers program manager and leader of the Rutgers Health Service Corps, compared Narcan to automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which are placed in public spaces so they're available when needed.

"You never know when a lifesaving device will be needed or who will need it," he said. "That's why preparedness is so important. It's also the idea behind this student health initiative and the message we're sharing across campus, found on each of our Narcan kits: 'You can't help if you're not prepared.'"

The scope of the Narcan distribution program is mirrored by other corps initiatives; Hemphill said future iterations will seek to draw in partners such as the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, to collaborate on potential food security programming.

"The Rutgers Health Service Corps aims to inspire the next generation of healthcare and public health heroes," said Ethan Halm, the inaugural Rutgers vice chancellor for population health, who oversees the program.

Heroes are abundant in one of the Service Corps' most impactful initiatives: the colorectal cancer screening test kit distribution program at the Eric B. Chandler Health Center.

Led by Brandi Blackshear, a Rutgers Health special projects coordinator and member of the Service Corp leadership team, and supported by students like Bryan Balarezo, a graduate student attending the Rutgers School of Public Health, this team brings together students from across health disciplines to increase uptake of colon cancer screenings among elderly and low-income patients in New Brunswick.

Now in its third year, the Service Corps has engaged roughly 120 students who have contributed over 3,100 hours of service, with 40 active members currently working on community health projects this academic year.

Together with fellow members, Balarezo spends several hours a week assembling and packaging fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kits, which are mailed to patients for at-home use. The kits test for hidden blood in stool, which can be an early indicator of colorectal cancer or other abnormalities. If a FIT result is positive, the patient is referred for a follow-up colonoscopy to determine the cause of the abnormal result.

Some clinics, like Chandler, opt to use FIT kits because they are easier to complete and less invasive than a colonoscopy. FIT kits allow patients to complete the screening in the comfort and privacy of their own homes, making it a more convenient option for patients who may otherwise face barriers to completing colorectal cancer screening.

Since September 2024, the team has assembled and distributed more than 3,000 test kits to Chandler patients, helping the community clinic to improve its colorectal cancer screening rates from 42% in 2023 to 61% in 2025, Hemphill said.

"We often overlook the low-income population and assume they are being taken care of," Balarezo said. "That's not always true. These FIT kits are a way to check up on our neighbors."

Illuminating hidden health challenges motivates Reaves, too.

"Addiction is real," he said. "It might be hidden inside people's homes, or in communities where we don't live, but by making Narcan more widely available, we're raising awareness and increasing preparedness."