Gov. Tina Kotek announced Dr. Sejal Hathi as the new director of the Oregon Health Authority on Monday.
Hathi serves as deputy health commissioner for New Jersey Public Health Services. She previously served as a senior public health policy advisor in the Biden administration and has more than a decade of experience in medicine, health policy, and education.
Hathi is also a board-certified attending physician and has served as an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Hathi brings a rare combination of extraordinary qualifications to this role, ranging from his front-line experience as a physician, to policymaking at the White House, to the founding of two nonprofit organizations focused on leadership of women and girls, Kotek said in a statement. I am grateful that she will bring her experience and talent to serve Oregonians.
She will take office on January 16.
I am both excited and honored to be part of the groundbreaking advancements in healthcare access happening in Oregon,” Hathi said in a statement. Nationally, all eyes are on the Oregon and the steps the state is taking to address it: expand health coverage and address core issues, such as the social determinants of health.
An advocate for women’s and girls’ health, in 2013 she was appointed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s expert advisory group on women’s and children’s health.
“I have fought for a world in which health is not hoarded as a privilege by a few, but is democratized with intention as a birthright for all,” Hathi said..
She said she wanted to oversee Oregon’s health administration in part because of her passion for accessible health care and her confidence in the work the state is doing to eliminate health inequities. health care.
“Fundamentally, I believe that no other state and its team, its leadership, its politics, its very constitution, is as prepared and as well equipped as Oregon to show how this should be done,” Hathi said .
OHA is the state’s largest agency, with a $35 billion budget for 2023-2025 and more than 5,000 employees. It has been without a permanent director since March, when Koteks’ original choice for the job, James Schroeder, resigned after seven weeks.
Since then, Dave Baden has taken over as interim director. He will retain the role of deputy director.
Hathi ascends to the role amid controversy over how the state has handled its behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment. On a call with reporters, she said responding to the behavioral health and substance abuse crises would be one of her top priorities.
“I am hopeful and optimistic that we will find the right path provided we center the voices of those affected by this crisis,” Hathi said.
Hathi will also oversee the implementation of several new initiatives such as launching the Basic Health Plan and improving Oregon’s controversial drug decriminalization measure.
Sydney Wyatt covers health care inequities in the Mid-Willamette Valley for the Statesman Journal. Send him comments, questions and tips toSWyatt@gannett.com(503) 399-6613, or on Twitter@sydney_elise44
Statesman Journals’ coverage of health care inequities is funded in part by theMJ Murdock Charitable Trustwhich seeks to strengthen the cultural, social, educational and spiritual base of the Pacific Northwest through capacity-building investments in the nonprofit sector.
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