Medical Society of New Jersey Installs 229th President

Kennedy Ganti, MD, FAAFP, FHELA was recently installed as the 229th President of the Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) at a virtual meeting held Sunday, June 6, 2021 for the society’s annual elections. Dr. Ganti has been a member of MSNJ since 2010, serving as a member of MSNJ’s Board of Trustees in various positions. Dr. Ganti will assume the presidency from Philip E. Kline, MD.

“Now, more than ever, MSNJ must continue to be a strong voice for our physician members,” said Larry Downs, CEO of MSNJ. “As we move forward from the pandemic, we must continue to advocate for physicians and patients alike and help shape the future of New Jersey’s ever-changing healthcare landscape. With his innate leadership skills and passionate advocacy, Dr. Ganti is a perfect candidate to lead our organization – on behalf of MSNJ and our physician members, I am honored to welcome him as our new president for the 2021-2022 term.”

Dr. Ganti shared his vision for the future of MSNJ and goals for his presidency, as the world and the healthcare industry in New Jersey continues to recover from the global pandemic:

“The resiliency of the American spirit was seen in many different ways during the darkest days of the pandemic. We witnessed the speedy investigation and deployment of telemedicine systems, ensuring better access to care. We also watched the rapid research, testing and deployment of vaccinations across the glob – inoculating millions, interrupting the transmission of the virus and preventing severe COVID-19 illness in our communities’ most vulnerable patients.

Through it all, MSNJ continued to protect and uphold New Jersey’s health and medicine, all for the good of public health – working with Governor Murphy, Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli, state officials and partners to provide sound guidance on ever-changing clinical news and offer best practices in regard to COVID-19 prevention, treatment and vaccination.

MSNJ is poised to lead the Garden State in developing a ‘new normal’ when it comes to our state’s healthcare landscape. Working collaboratively with other physicians, legislators, insurance providers, medical professionals and hospital systems, we must continue to lead the way for improved access to information for physicians through interoperable solutions like OneHealth New Jersey and push for increased funding and better access to behavioral health, maternal health and other specialties in need of support.

We have battled the COVID-19 virus together. But now, it is time for us to rise out of the pandemic – together.”

Dr. Ganti is a diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine and is board certified in family medicine and clinical informatics. He practices in a multispecialty group as a primary care physician in Willingboro, NJ, and his clinical interests lie in serving the unique primary care needs of patients with developmental disabilities. Additionally, Dr. Ganti is a physician informatician with Cooper Medical Informatics and Care Delivery Innovation at Cooper University Health Care and assistant professor of medicine at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University. He previously served as the medical director for primary care research at the Virtua Medical Group, where he completed a number of industry-sponsored clinical trials during his tenure, including but not limited to the blockbuster medications Invokana and Movantik.

Dr. Ganti is very active in the area of medical informatics, publishing numerous articles on the subject for continuing medical education (CME) credit. Additionally, Dr. Ganti has presented peer reviewed presentations in informatics at the national Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for the past two years. Dr. Ganti is a past vice-president and former member of the Board of Directors for New Jersey HIMSS and served as inaugural chair of the New Jersey Health Information Technology Commission from 2008 to 2010.

In the academic realm, Dr. Ganti has previously served as assistant clerkship director for the Cooper Medical School at Rowan University’s course on medical informatics for third- and fourth-year medical students. Additionally, Dr. Ganti is involved in several medical informatics projects, including the implementation of an integrated behavioral health screening and care delivery documentation module in the Epic EHR system.

Currently, Dr. Ganti serves as the president-elect of New Jersey HIMSS (New Jersey chapter of the Health Information Management Systems Society) and is the chair of the advisory committee for OneHealth New Jersey. He is also a member of the Academy of Family Physicians, New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians (NJAFP), American Medical Informatics Association and American Medical Association. Previously, Dr. Ganti served as past president of the Burlington County Medical Society and inaugural chair of the New Jersey Health IT Commission. He was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International and an NJAFP Resident Research Award winner in 2006.

Dr. Ganti completed his graduate medical education from the Department of Family Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ, where he currently serves as volunteer faculty. After completing his residency, Dr. Ganti completed a fellowship in health policy, where he worked as the health policy advisor to the chair of the Health and Senior Services Committee in the New Jersey State Assembly. Dr. Ganti currently resides in Chesterfield, NJ.

About the Medical Society of New Jersey:
Founded in 1766, the Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) is the oldest professional society in the United States. MSNJ has a mission to promote the betterment of the public health and the science and the art of medicine, to enlighten public opinion in regard to the problems of medicine, and to safeguard the rights of the practitioners of medicine. MSNJ represents all medical disciplines and serves as an advocate for patient and physician rights. Its members are dedicated to ensuring delivery of the highest quality medical care throughout New Jersey. For more information, visit www.msnj.org.