An emergency physician with expertise as a Chief Medical Officer who helped stand up the Secaucus Field Medical Station for recovering COVID-19 patients will join the Health Department as Deputy Commissioner for Public Health Services, Commissioner Judith Persichilli announced today.
“I’m pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. David J. Adinaro MD, M.Eng., FACEP. “Given the challenges of this pandemic, to have someone with Dr. Adinaro’s experience in emergency medicine will be essential as we continue to build on our response efforts and plan for the future.”
A lifelong New Jersey resident, Dr. Adinaro, 53, was a physician for 17 years at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, where he held a variety of positions including Chief of Emergency Medicine, Patient Safety Officer, Chief Medical Information Officer and Vice President/Chief Medical Officer. As chief Medical Information Officer, he helped create
an electronic medical record system for an entire hospital system.
“I am excited to join the Department at such a critical time. During my time as Chief Medical Officer of FMS-Secaucus, the dedication and collaboration from the Department has been extremely impressive,” said Dr. Adinaro. “They worked hard to provide us everything we needed to deliver safe care to our convalescing COVID positive patients. I look forward to bringing my experiences in clinical leadership, emergency medicine, healthcare systems, and informatics to the great team at the DOH.”
Dr. Adinaro volunteered in late March through the COVID-19 portal to join the state’s pandemic response. He was hired as Chief Medical Officer for the Field Medical Station, the 250-bed field hospital set up quickly to relieve pressure on hospitals in northern New Jersey. Nearly 300 patients were treated at the field hospital through May 12, when care was shifted to the East Orange Alternate Care Site, where Dr. Adinaro currently serves as Chief Medical Officer.
“I had the opportunity to see state government in action. With support from the National Guard, the state Office of Emergency Management Incident Management Team and the Department of Health, we trained over 100 doctors, nurses, social workers and respiratory and physical therapists who had never worked together before, got radiology and lab support and all the equipment we needed to stand up a hospital in a convention center in a little over a week,” Dr. Adinaro said.
As the Deputy Commissioner for Public Health Services, Dr. Adinaro will oversee the Divisions of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health; Family Health Services; HIV, STD and TB Services; Medicinal Marijuana; Public Health Infrastructure, Laboratories and Emergency Preparedness (PHILEP); and the Offices of Local Public Health and Women’s Health. The Division has 660 staff and a $103.5 million budget.
Dr. Adinaro became an EMT as a teenager and volunteered on first aid squads for 17 years including while a student at Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School in Newark. He graduated in 2000 and then completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Morristown Medical Center in 2003. He is a graduate of Lehigh University’s Healthcare Systems Engineering professional master’s program and earned a Master of Arts in Education degree in 1993 from Seton Hall University.
He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and is a former president, board member and education committee chair of its New Jersey chapter. He also served as the medical director for the Union County College Paramedic Training Program. Dr. Adinaro has lectured extensively in emergency medicine focusing on evidence-based medicine, simulation, patient safety and opioid prescribing in the Emergency Department and was the director of an innovative fellowship program in Administration and Informatics.
He is married to Liz Donadio-Adinaro, has four children and has a very proud 91-year-old father.
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