Ashwin Vasan (born November 15, 1980) is an American physician, epidemiologist, and health and human services leader, who is a public health professor and practicing primary care doctor at Columbia University, who most recently served as the 44th commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.[1][2] Vasan was also the president and CEO of Fountain House, a national mental health nonprofit.[3][4]
Ashwin Vasan began career in global HIV/AIDS, working with Partners In Health (PIH) in Boston before moving to the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization, under PIH Co-founder Dr. Jim Yong Kim, on the “3by5” Initiative to increase access to HIV treatment. He spent time in Switzerland, rural Uganda, Lesotho and Rwanda, with PIH once again, for this work. [6] After completing his internal medicine training at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, in 2014 Vasan joined the faculty of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and the Department of Medicine at Columbia's Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, where he works as an assistant professor of clinical population and family health and medicine, and has taught courses in global health, implementation science, and policy.[5] Vasan practices primary care medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. More recently, he has been an global advocate for pandemic preparedness, funding of global HIV/AIDS programs, and the health impacts of climate change.
In 2019, Vasan was named president and CEO of Fountain House, a national mental health nonprofit that provides employment, education, housing, health and wellness programs to the mentally ill.[9] Fountain House is notable for creating the Clubhouse model of psychosocial rehabilitation, which has been replicated in over 300 locations in 30 countries.[7] During his tenure, Vasan helped grow the organization nationally, supporting eight markets, and establishing a policy office based in Washington, DC working on funding for community based mental health systems and mental health crisis response. During his tenure the organization was supported by new gifts from MacKenzie Scott and the Ford Foundation, amongst others.
Tenure as NYC Health Commissioner
Vasan was appointed as Health Commissioner of New York City on December 21, 2021.
As Commissioner, Vasan reoriented Department and the City's public health planning to focus on falling life expectancy and inequity,[10] culminating in the launch of HealthyNYC, the city's population health agenda aiming to increase life expectancy to its highest-ever mark of 83 years old by 2030.[11] This agenda was later passed into local law, making HealthyNYC a permanent feature of city planning,[12] and he has proposed that the program could be a model to address nationwide declines in life expectancy.[13]
Dr. Vasan began his tenure toward the end of the Omicron wave of COVID-19, and steered administration strategy on vaccination, testing, and new treatments, where the city developed the first-in-the-nation telehealth and home delivery program for Paxlovid. He then led NYC's response to the mpox outbreak in summer 2022, with the city the epicenter of the North American outbreak. The Health Department was the first in the nation to launch mpox vaccination clinics in June 2022, doing so under extreme national vaccine supply constraints. These clinics, and the close partnership with community leaders, advocates, and providers led to the federal government to launching national mpox response and vaccination strategy just a few weeks later in early July 2022. New York City vaccinated over 100,000 people in the 2022 mpox outbreak, and within weeks cases dramatically declined and the end of the outbreak was eventually declared in early 2023.
Resignation
On September 23, 2024, in the midst of the investigations into the Eric Adams administration, Vasan announced that he will leave his position as NYC Health Commissioner after a nearly three-year term, citing family reasons,[14][15] and later brought up that date to October 18th, citing "greater urgency".[16][17] The Health Department and City Hall confirmed that his resignation was unrelated to the criminal investigation of Mayor Eric Adams. In an interview with the New York Times, Vasan was quoted as saying "I'm so far away from that world, and my focus has been on the health of the city.” [18]
He has also served on the boards of the Greater New York Hospital Association, NYC Health+Hospitals, New York Academy of Medicine, Public Health Solutions, The Fund for Public Health for NYC, Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health Transportation Alternatives, inseparable, and Forward Majority.[9] Vasan was also a member of the City & State advisory board until assuming his current role as NYC Health Commissioner, and has worked on multiple local, state, and national political campaigns as a health policy advisor.
Personal life
Vasan lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.[7]
^McDonough, Annie (April 20, 2023). [hhttps://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2023/04/nyc-health-chief-warns-shorter-less-healthy-lives-without-action/385463/ "NYC health chief warns of "shorter, less healthy lives" without action"]. City & State.
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