Dr. Shereef Elnahal, CEO of University Hospital in Newark and a former commissioner of the state Department of Health, was nominated by President Joe Biden Wednesday to serve as Under Secretary for Health at the Veterans Health Administration in the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Harvard-educated son of physicians who emigrated from Egypt, Elnahal will return to the agency from which Gov. Phil Murphy plucked him in 2018 to serve as state health commissioner and the first Muslim member of New Jersey’s cabinet in state history. Elnahal is 36.
Murphy praised the nomination in a statement Wednesday. “Both in his roles as commissioner and as CEO of University Hospital, Shereef brought together diverse communities and put equity at the forefront of his work,” the governor said. Elnahal’s efforts during the pandemic “have been nothing short of herculean,” Murphy said.
