Full Name
Dr. Ashwin Vasan
Job Title
New York City Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene
Company
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Speaker Bio
Dr. Ashwin Vasan is the 44th Health Commissioner of New York City. He is a practicing primary care physician, epidemiologist, and health policy expert with nearly 20 years of experience working to improve physical and mental health and social outcomes in New York City, nationally, and globally.
In his role as Commissioner since early 2022, Dr. Vasan has led the nation’s oldest and strongest public health agency through an unprecedented time of challenge and transition, reshaping the city’s health system to address the main drivers of declining life expectancy in the post-COVID emergency era - including overdoses, chronic and diet-related diseases, birth inequities, climate change, and gun violence -- and culminating in the launch of HealthyNYC, the city’s plan for healthier, longer lives. He has built a coalition of public, private, nonprofit, philanthropic, and government agencies behind this common vision, and worked closely with the New York City City Council to pass Local Law 93, codifying HealthyNYC into city planning, to be revised and reported on every five years in perpetuity, regardless of the administration.
Dr Vasan began his career in global health working at Partners in Health and the HIV Department of the World Health Organization, and most recently served as the President and CEO of Fountain House, a US-based mental health nonprofit. For more than a decade he has served on the faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeon, where he continues to see patients and teach trainees.
Dr. Vasan received his BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles; his ScM in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health; his MD from the University of Michigan; and his PhD in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine-primary care at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He serves as the Board Chair and President of the Fund for Public Health of New York City, and serves on the Boards of the Greater New York Hospital Association, New York Academy of Medicine, Public Health Solutions, and NYC Health+Hospitals.
He is published extensively in the academic literature in journals such as the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Health Policy and Planning, and AIDS, as well as in the popular press, New York Times, BBC World News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, and NBC News.
In his role as Commissioner since early 2022, Dr. Vasan has led the nation’s oldest and strongest public health agency through an unprecedented time of challenge and transition, reshaping the city’s health system to address the main drivers of declining life expectancy in the post-COVID emergency era - including overdoses, chronic and diet-related diseases, birth inequities, climate change, and gun violence -- and culminating in the launch of HealthyNYC, the city’s plan for healthier, longer lives. He has built a coalition of public, private, nonprofit, philanthropic, and government agencies behind this common vision, and worked closely with the New York City City Council to pass Local Law 93, codifying HealthyNYC into city planning, to be revised and reported on every five years in perpetuity, regardless of the administration.
Dr Vasan began his career in global health working at Partners in Health and the HIV Department of the World Health Organization, and most recently served as the President and CEO of Fountain House, a US-based mental health nonprofit. For more than a decade he has served on the faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeon, where he continues to see patients and teach trainees.
Dr. Vasan received his BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles; his ScM in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health; his MD from the University of Michigan; and his PhD in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine-primary care at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He serves as the Board Chair and President of the Fund for Public Health of New York City, and serves on the Boards of the Greater New York Hospital Association, New York Academy of Medicine, Public Health Solutions, and NYC Health+Hospitals.
He is published extensively in the academic literature in journals such as the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Health Policy and Planning, and AIDS, as well as in the popular press, New York Times, BBC World News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, and NBC News.
Speaking At
