NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot resigned on Tuesday in protest over her "deep disappointment" with Mayor Bill de Blasio's handling of the coronavirus outbreak and effort to keep it under control.
De Blasio named Dr. Dave Chokshi, who has been serving as the Chief Population Health Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, as her replacement.
"Dr. Chokshi has spent his career fighting for those too often left behind," said de Blasio. "Never has that been more true than during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he has helped lead our City's public health system under unprecedented challenges. I know he's ready to lead the charge forward in our fight for a fairer and healthier city for all."
As for Barbot, she said in her resignation email sent to de Blasio, a copy of which was published in The New York Times, "I leave my post today with deep disappointment that during the most critical public health crisis in our lifetime, that the Health Department's incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been,"
She added, "Our experts are world renowned for their epidemiology, surveillance and response work. The city would be well served by having them at the strategic center of the response not in the background."
Among the issues of contention was de Blasio's decision to strip the Health Department of its responsibility for contact tracing and give it instead to NYC Health + Hospitals. The Health Department has been performing such tracing for decades -- public hospitals have not.
Dr. Chokshi served as a White House Fellow in the Obama Administration and was the principal health advisor to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. In 2016, President Obama appointed him to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health.
"I couldn't be prouder of our City's response in the face of a once-in-a-lifetime public health crisis," said Dr. Chokshi. "I'm honored to serve the people of New York City with the extraordinary team at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Together, we will emerge from this pandemic as a stronger, fairer, and healthier city."
