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Valley Medical Group, a primary, walk-in and specialty care network with nearly two dozen locations across North Jersey and southern New York state, named Dr. Puneeta Sharma as its new chief medical officer.

As part of her role as senior medical administrator, Sharma will be responsible for improving patient care and medical outcomes as well as the optimization of resources in the medical group and the performance of more than 445 providers, Valley Medical Group said in a Dec. 27 press release announcing the appointment.

After joining Valley Medical Group in 2017 as director of palliative care, Sharma was promoted two years later to chair of medical specialties and oversaw various specialties, including pulmonary critical care, dermatology and rheumatology.

Along with a medical degree from Karnatak Medical College, Sharma earned a master’s degree in health care management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, according to Valley.

“In just a few years, Dr. Sharma has made an important and lasting impact on Valley Medical Group, and we are excited to appoint her our new chief medical officer,” said Julie Karcher, senior vice president of Valley Health System and Valley Medical Group.

“Some of the new clinical services that Dr. Sharma has helped introduce over the past few years include a new behavioral health program, ambulatory physical medicine and rehabilitation program, and the Care After COVID-19 program,” Karcher stated. “She has also led efforts to introduce key performance metrics that allow us to benchmark ourselves against best practices in the industry.”

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