N.J.'s top health official has a new job. He will run the beleaguered University Hospital

University Hospital in Newark

The University Hospital Board of Directors is expected to vote Wednesday on the selection of a new CEO. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

New Jersey’s sole public hospital, under scrutiny since last year for a deadly outbreak in its nursery for medically fragile newborns and a failing safety report card, will be led by state Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal.

The Board of Directors for University Hospital in Newark voted unanimously Wednesday to approve Elnahal’s appointment as president and CEO, which is expected to begin July 15.

Elnahal, a physician and Obama appointee to the Veterans Health Administration, joined Gov. Phil Murphy’s cabinet in January 2018. His 16-month tenure was dominated by expanding the medical marijuana program and responding to the deadly outbreaks at University Hospital and Wanaque Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

“It’s been my greatest honor to serve in the Murphy administration,” Elnahal said.

iIn a statement shortly after the board’s vote, Elnahal cited a list of accomplishments that include expanding women’s health clinics with 10,000 additional patients — many of them minorities — making progress on improving the state’s psychiatric hospitals, and “helping to preserve the gains N.J. has made with the Affordable Care Act."

“It is now my privilege to transition into serving the state’s only public hospital and its community,” Elnahal’s statement said. “University can be the pride of Newark. Its health care, community and academic missions can carry it forward into excellence.”

Elnahal replaces John Kastanis, who resigned from the $900,000-a-year job after an outside monitor in December released a report critical of the hospital’s management. The hospital has not set a salary for Elnahal, who makes $175,000 as health commissioner, but the amount will “not exceed the average salary for this position based on regional and public hospital market surveys provided by (consultant) SullivanCotter, along with goals and metrics to measure performance,” according to the board’s resolution approving his hire.

The report by monitor and veteran hospital administrator Judy Persichilli concluded some of University Hospital’s problems stem from a leadership void since the state dissolved its parent agency, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, seven years ago.

But the monitor also found Kastanis had alienated the community and the state Department of Health, and the hospital board had fallen short of its mission to hold management accountable.

At the Murphy administration’s urging, the board appointed Persichilli as acting CEO, she is expected to leave the position some time after Elnahal arrives.

A committee of four board members, consisting of Chairwoman Tanya Freeman and Keith Green, Mary O’Dowd and Brian Strom, winnowed the original applicants from 50 to 11, who were interviewed, Freeman said. They narrowed to three: Elnahal, Milton Anderson, chief administration officer at RWJBarnabas Health, one of the state’s largest hospital chains, and Judith Lynn Bachman, chief operating officer for Fox Chase Cancer Center.

"We are confident that his strong leadership and creativity will be the driving force necessary to continue the momentum we have begun to develop over the last several months as we craft a Strategic Plan for the future,” according to a statement Freeman released Wednesday night.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Kastanis critic who spoke to NJ Advance Media before the vote, said the next CEO must understand the history of the hospital, founded to help Newark recover from the 1967 riots, and how important it is to the city’s residents.

“Clearly they have to realize this is a hospital for the state of New Jersey, but also it sits in Newark and they have to have transparent discussions (with) the city,” Baraka said. “We usually find out things that happen through Trenton and not through the hospital itself.”

Baraka said the CEO must also strengthen the hospital, which he described as “just limping along.”

“It needs to be stood up on its own. Before anything is done, they need to repair the damage of neglect - to the ER, customer service, cleanliness, and making sure the medical school part of it is strong,” the mayor said.

The Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria outbreak in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit in September revealed the hospital practiced inconsistent infection control practices, such as proper hand-washing and sterilizing equipment, according to the state inspection report. An anonymous employee contacted the state health department to report the outbreak. Three infants died.

Gov. Phil Murphy called Elnahal’s departure “bittersweet.”

“Over the past year and a half, Shereef has proven again and again that he was the perfect choice for our administration’s first Commissioner of Health," Murphy said in a statement. “Whether it was guiding the state through a troubling viral outbreak, working with the First Lady to tackle maternal health disparities, or ensuring that more patients than ever before will have access to medical marijuana, he has made us proud.”

Elnahal said he will remain as commissioner until the next fiscal year’s budget is signed, which is usually on or before June 30.

Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO for the Health Care Quality Institute of New Jersey, a research and advocacy nonprofit, said the hospital’s grades of F and D on the last two Leapfrog Safety report cards were very troubling.

"The fact that one of the teaching hospitals went from an F to a D in Leapfrog is problematic, when you are training the next generation of providers. You want them to be seeing the best in quality and safety procedures and the techniques and science around quality and safety now. "

Schwimmer praised the board’s choice for CEO, calling Elnahal “a strong and compassionate leader who will be a trusted partner for the Newark community.”

About a dozen employees, union members and activists attended the meeting Wednesday afternoon, to thank Persichilli for “putting the hospital back on track,” and to express their regret the board had not hosted a forum that would have allowed the community to meet the candidates.

“I am cheering for this new person. We want to give them an opportunity to do right,” said Lavita Johnson second vice president for the Newark NAACP. “You will continue to constantly see us and hear from us.”

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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