Anjali Varma Desai, MD

Anjali Desai, MD, MSCE, is the medical director of the Oncology Palliative Care program across Atlantic Health System. She is fellowship-trained and board-certified in internal medicine, as well as in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Her vision is to integrate palliative care as part of high-quality cancer care across all phases of the illness, beginning at diagnosis and continuing through the end of life. Dr. Desai’s expertise in pain and symptom management, communication and care coordination enables her to provide comprehensive care tailored to each patient’s values and goals. She works closely with her Oncology colleagues to ensure that patients are able to have the highest quality of life throughout the course of their cancer care.

Dr. Desai earned a medical degree from the New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine, NYC, and a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology and health services research from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, NYC. She completed her internal medicine residency training at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, after which she completed a yearlong research fellowship, followed by a clinical fellowship, in hospice and palliative medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), NYC. After completing fellowship training, Dr. Desai served as an attending physician in palliative care and as an associate program director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at MSK before joining Atlantic Health System.

Dr. Desai received a 2021 Kornfeld Scholars Program Award from the National Palliative Care Research Center for her research on leveraging technology to facilitate delivery of person-centered care. She is part of Atlantic Medical Group and is a participating provider of the Atlantic Accountable Care Organization.