Elnahal, two Murphy aides named to Biden-Harris agency review teams

Former Commissioner of Health Shareef Elnahal and two Murphy administration officials are among a group of New Jerseyans joining the Biden-Harris Transition as volunteer members of agency review teams.

All three served in the Obama administration before joining Gov. Phil Murphy’s team and all are potentially Washington-bound after Joe Biden assumes the presidency next year.

Elnahal, the CEO of University Hospital in Newark, will serve on the Department of Veterans Affairs team.  He was the chief quality and safety officer of the Veterans Health Administration and served as health commissioner form 2018 to 2019.

Vinn White, a senior transportation policy advisor on the governor’s staff, is on the team that will review the Department of Transportation.  He served as an acting U.S. Secretary of Transportation during the final year of the Obama administration and previously served as a policy advisor in the office of the Secretary of Transportation.

Anna Martinez, the director of the New Jersey Division on Women, will serve on the Department of Health and Human Services team.

Martinez is a former deputy political director of the Democratic National Committee and was at the DNC from 2004 to 2009,  after spending four years as a civil rights analyst in the Civil Rights Division Voting section at the Justice Department.

She worked at the Department of Justice from 2009 to 2017 as a senior policy advisor in the Office on Violence Against Women, as chief of staff of the Office for Victims of Crime, as senior advisor to the Associate Attorney General, as a policy specialist detailed to the White House in the office of Vice President Biden, and as a senior policy advisor in the Office of Justice Programs.