Dr. Jennifer Khelil has been promoted to chief clinical officer of Virtua Health, the largest health system in southern New Jersey.
In her new role, Khelil will collaborate with the leadership teams of the not-for-profit health system to provide clinical oversight across the organization, focusing on high reliability, quality and safety, and patient outcomes. She also provides leadership for nursing, physician services, and medical affairs.
Additionally, Khelil will help lead Virtua Health’s academic affiliation with Rowan University.
Virtua CEO Dennis Pullin applauded the announcement.
“I have always been impressed by Dr. Khelil’s empathy and commitment to quality,” he said. “From our providers to our patients, everyone will benefit from Dr. Khelil’s dedication to creating outstanding experiences that reflect the best of health care delivery.”
Khelil has served as Virtua’s chief medical officer since 2019 and was previously vice president of medical affairs starting in 2013. In these roles, she has helped drive Virtua’s considerable strategic growth and expand access to care.
Today, Marlton-based Virtua Health encompasses 1,400 employed physicians and a 3,000-person medical staff.
Khelil is hands-on in developing the clinical staff and capabilities for Virtua’s key service areas, including cardiovascular care, neurosciences, gastroenterology, maternity, and organ transplantation. She said she is eager to begin the new role.
“From the moment I joined Virtua 12 years ago, it was clear that I was part of a special organization unified in its mission to improve health and wellness for the people in our service area,” she said. “It has been thrilling to see Virtua grow over the years and to contribute to that growth. I’m looking forward to bringing even greater advances to the people of South Jersey.”
Khelil has also led the expansion of Virtua’s graduate and undergraduate medical education programs to help train more doctors. In 2021, Virtua offered five small, well-regarded residency programs. Today, Virtua has twice as many residency programs, including those for surgery, psychiatry, geriatrics, osteopathic neuromuscular manipulation, OB-GYN, podiatry, and pharmacy, among others. The internal medicine program presently employs 36 residents and will expand to 54 residents in July. Two soon-to-merge large family-medicine programs will help address the shortage of primary care providers in New Jersey and beyond (growing from 18 to 34 trainees over the next year).