Contact: Stephany Fong, fong@nyhealthfoundation.org
April 6, 2022 – Dave A. Chokshi, M.D., former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, will join the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) as a Visiting Fellow next month. Dr. Chokshi is celebrated for his calm, science-based approach to managing the City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Millions of New Yorkers got to know and trust Dr. Chokshi through his strong leadership and frequent public service announcements,” said David Sandman, Ph.D., President and CEO of NYHealth. “We are honored that he has chosen to make the Foundation a next stop in his illustrious career and we’re eager to learn from his deep experience in public health and as a practicing primary care doctor.”
Dr. Chokshi has taken care of patients as a primary care physician at Bellevue Hospital since 2014 and is a Clinical Professor of Population Health and Medicine at NYU. Before his appointment as the 43rd NYC Health Commissioner, Dr. Chokshi served as the inaugural Chief Population Health Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals. Earlier, he worked at the New York State Department of Health and the Louisiana Department of Health, before and after Hurricane Katrina. He also served as a White House Fellow and was the principal health advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
As a Visiting Fellow, Dr. Chokshi will provide counsel on a range of issues. He will advise the Foundation on opportunities and strategies for promoting the adoption and spread of overdose prevention centers within New York State; increasing primary care access and capacity statewide and promoting racial health equity through primary care; preventing veteran suicide and meeting veterans’ health needs; and responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Being at NYHealth will allow me to work on issues I care about deeply,” said Dr. Chokshi. “I have long admired the Foundation for its activist approach to philanthropy and I’m looking forward to working with its talented leadership, staff, and Board to advance its mission of making New York a healthier place.”
Dr. Chokshi has written widely on public health and medicine. In 2016, President Obama appointed him to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. He trained in internal medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where he received the Dunne Award for Compassionate Care, and was a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School. During his training, Dr. Chokshi did clinical work in Guatemala, Peru, Botswana, Ghana, and India. He received his M.D. with Alpha Omega Alpha distinction from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was elected by his peers to win the Joel Gordon Miller Prize. He also earned an M.Sc. in global public health as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and graduated summa cum laude from Duke.
Dr. Chokshi will begin his term as a Visiting Fellow effective May 1st.
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The New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) is a private, statewide foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable. The Foundation is committed to making grants, informing health policy and practice, spreading effective programs to improve the health care system and the health of New Yorkers, serving as a convener of health leaders across the State, and providing technical assistance to its grantees and partners.
