Dr. Ashwin Vasan, a trained epidemiologist, and public health leader have been appointed as the new New York City health commissioner to succeed Dr. Dave A. Chokshi.
Ashwin Vasan, MD, Ph.D., has been named the 44th Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH), effective March 2022, by Mayor-elect Eric Adams.
Vasan will succeed current Commissioner David Chokshi, MD, who serves on the Board of Advisors at Columbia Mailman School.
Ashwin directs Fountain House, a national mental health nonprofit, and is an assistant professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and Medicine at Columbia Mailman School and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Ashwin Vasan: Who Is The New NYC Health Commissioner?
Mayor-Elect Eric Adams announced that Chokshi will be succeeded by Dr. Ashwin Vasan as the new New York City health commissioner who is an epidemiologist and practicing physician.
Dr. Vasan is the president of Fountain House, a mental health nonprofit based in New York, as well as a Columbia University professor of public health. He has a tight relationship with Mr. Adams, acting as co-chair of his transition team’s health committee.
Mr. Adams, the city’s first vegan mayor, said he wants Dr. Vasan to focus on other programs like providing healthy food at city facilities. He will be a senior adviser for public health until March 15, when he will take over.
Dr. Ashwin Vasan Wikipedia Explored
Dr. Ashwin Vasan does have a Wikipedia page where his biography is available. Vasan, his wife, and their three children live in Brooklyn. In 2004, he graduated from Harvard School of Public Health with a Master of Science degree.
Ashwin Vasan earned a Ph.D. from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 2015 after graduating from the University of Michigan Medical School in 2011. He spent time in Switzerland and Uganda working for the World Health Organization’s Department of HIV/AIDS.
Vasan joined the Mailman School of Public Health faculty at Columbia University in 2014 as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and Medicine.
Meet Dr. Ashwin Vasan on Linkedin
Dr. Ashwin does have a Linkedin account under the handle @Dr. Ashwin Vasan. His bio reads as “Physician, Epidemiologist, Public Health, and Mental Health Leader”.
Vasan was named President and CEO of Fountain House in 2019, a nationwide mental health nonprofit that offers the mentally ill work, education, housing, and wellness initiatives.
Fountain House is well known for inventing the Clubhouse model of psychosocial rehabilitation, which has since been copied in over 300 locations across 30 nations. Vasan works at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center as a primary care physician.