New York City

5 things to know about Dave Chokshi, NYC’s new health commissioner

He is taking over following Oxiris Barbot’s resignation.

Dave Chokshi, the new commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Dave Chokshi, the new commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. NYU School of Medicine

Dave Chokshi was named as the new commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on Tuesday. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed him to the role following the resignation of former Commissioner Oxiris Barbot. Here are five things to know about the man who will help lead the city’s ongoing efforts to keep New Yorkers safe from the coronavirus.

He’s taking over at a difficult time

While the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, with shocking death tolls and overloaded hospitals, is hopefully behind New York City, the pressure is still on city health officials to help guide the continued reopening while avoiding another surge in cases. That means balancing political and economic pressures with what is best from a public health standpoint – the same pressures that apparently led to Barbot’s resignation. The former commissioner and other higher-ups reportedly butted heads with de Blasio from the earliest days of the pandemic in March, largely over concerns that the mayor wasn’t listening to health experts.

He’s coming from NYC Health + Hospitals

De Blasio has appeared to be favoring the city’s public hospital system, New York City Health + Hospitals, over the city’s health department throughout the pandemic. That was shown most clearly when he assigned the coronavirus contact tracing program to Health + Hospitals over the health department, which has a long history of contract tracing experience. So choosing Chokshi, who has been a part of Health + Hospitals’ senior leadership, could be seen as a move to better align the health department’s leadership with de Blasio’s public health worldview.

Chokshi has been with Health + Hospitals since 2014, and most recently served as its chief population health officer, where he reportedly led the system’s transition to telemedicine during the pandemic. He left leadership in May, but continued his work as a primary care internist at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, while also working as a clinical associate professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He’s published extensively, most recently authoring “Emerging Lessons From COVID-19 Response in New York City” in the Journal of the American Medical Association along with Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz.

He’s isn’t even 40 yet

Chokshi is just 39 years old and was recognized by Crain’s New York Business on its 40 Under 40 list last year, along with other government figures like New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. And just last month, City & State recognized Chokshi as one of New York’s 100 most politically powerful Asian Americans. A quick look at the doctor’s résumé shows why. He was raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and graduated from Duke University before getting his master’s degree as a Rhodes scholar at the University of Oxford. He earned his medical degree from University of Pennsylvania, then did a clinical fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He came to New York City in 2011 and worked as special adviser to then-New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley. He went to Washington for a year to serve as a White House Fellow in President Barack Obama’s administration and as the principal health adviser to the secretary of Veterans Affairs, then came back to New York to work as a senior adviser to then-state Health Commissioner Nirav Shah. He joined Health + Hospitals in October 2014, not long after de Blasio took office.

He’s a man

Barbot’s resignation is just the latest note in de Blasio’s checkered track record with female leaders. There’s a gender pay gap at City Hall that is even larger among top officials, and women of color who have worked for de Blasio say they have felt marginalized. Barbot leaving her position is reminiscent of the 2018 resignation of her predecessor, Dr. Mary Bassett. Chokshi will be another man leading a city agency, but as the son of immigrants from India, he will help the de Blasio administration’s leadership reflect the diversity of the city. Other high-level South Asian appointees include Counsel to the Mayor Kapil Longani and director of the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency Jainey Bavishi.

He’ll keep seeing patients

Despite taking over as the city’s health czar, Chokshi plans to keep up his clinical practice as a primary care doctor at Bellevue, according to a press release from the de Blasio administration. He’s not the only public servant in the family – the mayor’s office said Chokshi’s wife is an educator in the New York City public school system. They live with their 14-month-old daughter in Elmhurst, Queens, just blocks from Health + Hospitals’ Elmhurst Hospital. Chokshi is a registered Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.