New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan will resign at the end of the year, he told NBC New York.
Vasan, who took over as the city’s chief medical officer in March 2022, informed his staff and City Hall of his decision to step down on Monday. In a letter, Vasan said he would leave in January but plans to stay in office while Mayor Eric Adams and his team search for a successor.
“I have three young children under the age of 11. And they need their father. And that’s why it’s time to tell you that you come first for me,” Vasan said in an interview with NBC New York.
While the resignation comes amid a spate of investigations into Adams’ administration and after at least three other officials left City Hall in the past two weeks, Vasan said his decision to leave the post was not directly related to any investigation.
Vasan cited personal and family reasons for his resignation, saying the factor was “first and foremost my family” and that the decision had nothing to do with any investigation.
“From day one, my focus has been on improving my health, integrity and good values. That is my focus today, my focus yesterday and my focus tomorrow and until the end of the year. Returning to my family is the main reason,” Vasan said.
Vasan, a family physician, epidemiologist and public health expert, took over as head of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene after Dr. Dave Chokshi served there for just over a year and a half during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to his bio on the DOH website, Vasan has been a lecturer at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons since 2014.
When Vasan announced a new plan to expand the city’s mental health services in March 2023, he fought back tears as he recalled losing his uncle to suicide at the age of 10.
“I became a doctor to heal. And one of the best things we can do to help New Yorkers heal is to focus openly and clearly on mental health,” Dr. Ashwin Vasan said at the time.
The plan put forward by Mayor Adams and Vasan focused primarily on the mental health of children and families, addressing the overdose crisis, and supporting New Yorkers living with serious mental illness. The plan also included telehealth and suicide prevention programs for New York City high school students.
Vasan has spoken openly in the past about how his own child was also on a waiting list for treatment.
As for the public health challenges facing the city, the COVID situation has stabilized, but fall and winter are upon us, a time when communicable diseases are always a risk and numbers are rising.
“We are about to enter respiratory virus season. We are already in the thick of it. New Yorkers need their COVID and flu shots because COVID is a part of our lives,” Vasan told News 4.
In a statement, Mayor Adams said Vasan has been “indispensable to our city over the past two and a half years as we have grappled with rising COVID rates, Mpox outbreaks and a mental health crisis on both our streets and in our schools… I applaud Dr. Vasan’s decision to remain in office until early next year while we make the transition to a new commissioner.”
“This has been the privilege of a lifetime. It is the best job in public health in the best city in the world,” Vasan said.
