Haitian American Dr. Alister Martin named NYC health commissioner

NEW YORK — Haitian American physician Dr. Alister Martin was appointed commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced on Jan.31. Martin, an emergency room physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, will oversee the city’s public health system, including disease response, prevention programs and community health initiatives.

“Dr. Martin will help oversee the city’s public health apparatus, monitor and manage disease outbreaks, and advance the Mamdani Administration’s vision for a city where every New Yorker can find affordable, accessible, world-class healthcare,” City Hall said in a statement. 

The agency is one of the larget public health systems in the world, with an annual budget of $1.6 billion and more than 7,000 employees throughout the five boroughs.

Martin said the role carries personal meaning and a sense of responsibility to the communities that raised him.

“As a kid from Jackson Heights, nothing means more to me than coming home to serve the city I was born in,” Martin said in the announcement. “I’ve spent my career building programs that turn healthcare settings into launchpads for opportunity.”

Martin said the appointment returns him to the immigrant roots that shaped his career in medicine and public service.

“My mother raised me as a single parent in Jackson Heights, a Haitian immigrant doing her level best,” Martin said in a statement. “She worked her way up from a fry cook at McDonald’s to a consultant at the United Nations.”

Martin previously served as an adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris and worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement. He is the founder of Vot-ER, a nonpartisan nonprofit that promotes civic participation through health care settings, and leads “A Healthier Democracy,” a healthcare organizing incubator based at Northeastern University.

According to the mayor’s office, Martin’s work has focused on connecting patients to services beyond medical care, including opioid addiction treatment, vaccine access, financial assistance and civic resources. His initiatives have partnered with more than 1,700 hospitals nationwide and trained tens of thousands of clinicians.

“From the emergency room to the White House, he has built programs that deliver at scale,” said Michael Collins, former White House director of public engagement for the vice president’s office. “He will bring that same results-driven approach to improving the health of all New Yorkers.”

Dr. Martin was one of five new commissioners named in the mayor’s latest round of appointments. The others include Stanley Richards as commissioner of the Department of Correction — the first formerly incarcerated person to hold the role — Yesenia Mata as commissioner of the Department of Veterans’ Services, Sandra Escamilla-Davies as commissioner of the Department of Youth and Community Development, and Vilda Vera Mayuga as commissioner of the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

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