Medical Society of Delaware elects new president
Matthew J. Burday, DO, an internal medicine hospitalist with ChristianaCare, was elected Nov. 17 during the organization’s 231st Annual Meeting to serve as the 177th president of the Medical Society of Delaware for 2021.
Burday, a graduate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, is also director of medical student education at ChristianaCare in Newark.
A strong believer in the value of education, Burday is a clinical associate professor of medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and has been awarded the Delaware Clinical Branch Campus Teacher of the Year recognition multiple times. He has also been distinguished as a Delaware Today magazine and Philadelphia Magazine Top Doctor.
Burday has been extensively involved with the Medical Society of Delaware for more than 30 years.
Burday plans to focus his presidency on supporting primary care in Delaware and encouraging patients to utilize their primary care physicians, especially during the pandemic. “We must continue to support primary care and assist in finding ways to help patients understand the importance of follow-up, and help find ways of engaging patients with their physicians in these difficult times,” said Burday.
Burday said he is also eager to rejuvenate efforts to fight the opioid crisis and will be working to connect more resources in that battle by networking with other states’ initiatives. “The pandemic has pushed the opioid crisis into the shadows to some extent. With more people around us losing their jobs, being furloughed for long periods, or taking on many short-term jobs just to make ends meet, depression, anxiety, and agitation have run rampant. Opioid use has fueled these fires, and the end does not seem in sight. The need to involve the communities which we serve cannot be overemphasized for this and other issues. It is critical as we move to 2021 that we work together in partnership for our physicians and patients in providing fair and equal care for all,” he said.
