Eric Munoz Politician

Eric Munoz, M.D., MBA, FACS (October 14, 1947 – March 30, 2009) was an American Republican Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2001, where he represented the 21st legislative district, until his death on March 30, 2009. Munoz had served as the Deputy Conference Leader since 2006.Munoz served in the Assembly on the Health and Senior Services Committee and the Human Services Committee.Munoz was a practicing trauma surgeon and administrator at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He served on the National Institutes of Health Committee since 2002. From 1990-2001, he served as Chairman of the New Jersey Medical Practitioner Review Panel, where he was first appointed by Governor of New Jersey James Florio in 1990 and reappointed by Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 1995.A longtime resident of Summit, New Jersey, Munoz served on the Summit Common Council from 1996-2001. He was a former Republican Municipal Chairman in Summit. He was elected to an unexpired term as Assemblyman in the old 21st Legislative District in 2001 to succeed Kevin J. O'Toole.He was elected in 2001, and reelected in 2003, 2005 and 2007, to represent the new 21st District consisting of municipalities in Union, Morris, Essex and Somerset Counties. He served as Deputy Leader of the Republican Conference for the 2006-2008 term.In 2006, Munoz was criticized by a Delaware judge for allegedly misrepresenting his credentials as an expert witness in a medical malpractice case. According to the judge, Munoz testified in 2004 that he was certified in emergency medicine when he was only certified in general surgery. The state Supreme Court found that the judge had "abused her discretion" by dismissing the case on this basis but did not dispute her interpretation of the underlying situation.Munoz graduated with a B.A. degree from the University of Virginia in Pre-Med and received an M.D. degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He did his general surgery training at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and was also awarded his Master of Business Administration in Finance degree from Columbia University.