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Oregon Health & Science University chose Shereef Elnahal, a medical doctor who ran a hospital in New Jersey, to be its next president, replacing Danny Jacobs, who resigned in October after a series of management blunders that demoralized staff.
OHSU’s board must approve the appointment. It will vote on Elnahal on June 27.
Elnahal, 40, earned both a medical degree and a master’s in business administration from Harvard University. He takes the helm at OHSU at a difficult time. The Trump administration aims to slash funding for the National Institutes of Health, eliminating funds that pay for much of OHSU’s research. Republicans in Congress are considering cuts to both Medicare and Medicaid, which pay the way for many patients at OHSU’s hospital system.
Gov. Tina Kotek lauded the appointment of Elnahal. Hers is a critical endorsement because OHSU is a quasi-public institution. Oregon’s governor appoints the members of OHSU’s board, and the state funds some of its operations.
“OHSU plays a vital role in the health and well-being of all Oregonians, and its leadership must reflect a vision for excellence and innovation,” Kotek said in a statement. “President-elect Dr. Shereef Elnahal has the experience and accomplishments to usher OHSU into the future and continue leading in health care, education and research.”
During his career, Elnahal has been a deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, health commissioner for the state of New Jersey, and chief executive of University Hospital in Newark.
Until January, he was CEO of the Veterans Administration hospital system. Nominated to the position by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate, Elnahal left the post when Donald Trump became president. Since then, he has been health adviser at Thrive Capital, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Thrive is a New York-based venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, younger brother of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Thrive got its start with money from Princeton University and libertarian entrepreneur Peter Thiel, among others.
OHSU has been looking for a new president since October, when Danny Jacobs resigned. Jacobs had irked rank-and-file workers after taking a $700,000 bump to his retirement benefits while asking staff to cut costs. In 2023, he handed out $15 million in bonuses to nonunion staff that weren’t based on merit. After uproar among union workers, he revoked the bonuses for OHSU’s highest-paid administrators.