Credit: (NJDOH)

Four months after the New Jersey Department of Health touted that it had hired a former White House policy expert as a key deputy commissioner, the appointee has accepted a job to run Oregon’s largest health agency.

Dr. Sejal Hathi, who oversaw a broad portfolio as deputy commissioner for Public Health Services in New Jersey, was tapped earlier this month to lead the Oregon Health Authority, a $17 billion department that oversees Medicaid, hospital systems, public health and other programs, according to media reports. Hathi — the fourth leader of the Oregon agency in roughly a year — will begin the new job in January.

Hathi declined to comment on the move Wednesday. In a social media post Tuesday, however, she spoke highly of her experience in New Jersey but thanked Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek for giving her this new opportunity. “Grateful to have been able to work with, among, and for the exceptional public servants of New Jersey. And deeply honored and delighted now to be making this transition to Oregon — a state whose bold and relentless quest for equity and for a health system that works for all both inspires and captivates me,” Hathi wrote on LinkedIn.

Officials at the state Department of Health wished Hathi well. “On behalf of the Commissioner, the Department thanks Dr. Hathi for her dedication and commitment to public health and for her service to New Jersey. We wish her much success in her future endeavors,” deputy communications director Nancy Kearney said.

Building bridges

In her short term Hathi made a good impression on some local public health leaders, a group that has at times felt ignored by state officials. Chris Merkel, who oversees public health in Monmouth County and is president of the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials, said Hathi had met with many county leaders and was working to bring them together. “This is a loss for New Jersey public health offices,” he said of her departure.

The New Jersey Health Department, which employs some 5,500 people and has a budget of $2.5 billion in state and federal funds this fiscal year, has seen considerable turnover in recent years, especially in its senior ranks. At times it has also struggled to hire and retain leaders, a situation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the availability of better-paying private-sector jobs.

Kearney said that when Hathi departs at the end of November her post will be the only vacancy among the three deputy commissioner offices. Someone will be assigned to the job in an acting capacity until a permanent replacement is found, she said.

The most recent departure involved former Commissioner Judy Persichilli, a nurse and hospital executive who received high marks for spearheading the state’s pandemic health response. Persichilli hired Hathi, who has several Ivy League degrees, in late June. Less than a month later, Persichilli stepped down and Gov. Phil Murphy appointed addiction expert Dr. Kaitlan Baston to lead the department.

In announcing Hathi’s hire, Persichilli said her experience would help guide the state as it emerged from the pandemic. “Her dedication and commitment to improving public health, maternal and child health and health equity will help lead state policy for years ahead,” Persichilli said.

Hathi honored

“I am deeply honored to join a department and an administration so fiercely dedicated to strengthening New Jersey’s public health infrastructure and to ensuring equitable access to the services and opportunities that will make New Jersey stronger, fairer, and healthier for all,” Hathi said in the announcement.

“I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead as we rebuild in the wake of a once-in-a-century pandemic and accelerate progress on core public health priorities.”

But around the time Hathi accepted the New Jersey job, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek began looking for someone to run the health authority in that state, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle. When Kotek’s first hire unexpectedly quit after a few months, Oregon officials relaunched the search with the help of a national firm and eventually connected with Hathi.

“This is a state and a team that embraces my values for equity, for evidence-based policy, for innovation and relentless improvement. I’ve had my eye on Oregon for quite a while, and I could not be more excited to make the state my home,” Hathi said in the Chronicle report. While her predecessors at the authority have been older white men, Hathi is a 33-year-old first-generation South-Asian American.

Before her work in New Jersey, Hathi worked as an adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was on the faculty at Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities and served as a public health policy adviser to President Joe Biden. The Chronicle said Hathi’s experience in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., had “given her experience in navigating bureaucracy,”

“I similarly had to wrangle a lot of difficult perspectives and bridge silos, entrenched silos to push the work forward,” Hathi said, according to the Chronicle. “That is that grit and commitment that I will bring to this role.”