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 the post as the city's top doc in March 2022, informed his staff and City Hall on Monday of his decision to step down. In a written letter, Vasan said he would be leaving by January, but plans to stay on the job while Mayor Eric Adams and his team look for a successor.
"I have three small kids under 11. And they need their dad. And so this is my time to say I’m prioritizing you," Vasan said in an interview with NBC New York.
While the resignation comes amid a flurry of investigations surrounding the Adams administration and after at least three other officials have left City Hall in the past two weeks, Vasan said choice to leave the job is not directly related to any investigation.
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Vasan attributed his resignation to personal and family reasons, saying "the factor was my family, first and foremost," and that the decision was unrelated to any investigation.
"From day one, my focus has been on improving health, integrity and good values. That’s my focus today, my focus yesterday and my focus tomorrow, and until the end of the year. Getting back to my family is the main reason," Vasan said.
Vasan, a primary care physician, epidemiologist and public health expert, took the helm of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene after Dr. Dave Chokshi served for just over a year and a half during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to his bio on the DOH site, Vasan has served since 2014 on the faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
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In March 2023, while announcing a new plan to expand the city's mental health services, Vasan fought back tears as he recalled when he 10 years old losing his uncle to suicide.
“I became a doctor to be a healer. And one of the best things we can do to help New Yorkers heal, is to openly and unambiguously focus in mental health," said Dr. Ashwin Vasan said at the time.
The plan put forward by Mayor Adams and Vasan primarily focused on child and family mental health, addressing the overdose crisis, and supporting New Yorkers living with serious mental illness. The plan also included telehealth and suicide prevention programs for NYC high school students.
Vasan has spoken openly in the past about how his own child has been waitlisted for treatment as well.
As for public health challenges the city faces, COVID has stabilized, but the fall and winter season are coming up, a time when communicable diseases are always a risk and numbers rise.
"We are about to enter respiratory viral season. We are in it already. New Yorkers need their COVID shots and flu shots because COVID is part of our lives," Vasan told News 4.
In a statement, Mayor Adams said Vasan had been "indispensable to our city over the past two-and-a-half years as we’ve handled rising COVID rates, Mpox outbreaks, and a mental health crisis both on our streets and in our schools...I appreciate Dr. Vasan’s decision to stay on through early next year as we transition to a new commissioner."
"This has been the privilege of a lifetime. It’s the best public health job in the best city in the world," Vasan said.
