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A headshot of an adult man with dark skin who is possibly Indian in appearance. He has combed black hair, great eyebrows, and he is slightly smiling at the camera. He is wearing a dark suit with a dark blue tie.

Ashwin Vasan

Public Health Advisory Board Member

Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD, is a practicing primary care physician, epidemiologist, and health expert committed to prevention and improving physical and mental health for vulnerable communities in New York City, nationally, and globally. Most recently, he served as the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, one of the largest and most storied public health agencies in the world, where he led the city out of the COVID-19 pandemic and into a new strategic plan, HealthyNYC, focused on improving life expectancy, investing in prevention and preparedness, mental health, and strengthening data systems and workforce capacity.

He is currently a Richard M. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at Harvard and the James McCune Smith Distinguished Fellow at the Meharry School of Global Health. Since 2014, he has served on the faculty at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Vasan previously served as president and CEO of Fountain House, a national nonprofit fighting to improve health, increase opportunity, and end social and economic isolation for people severely impacted by mental illness, and led its nationwide expansion and fundraising campaign. He began his career with a decade in global health and HIV/AIDS at Partners In Health and the World Health Organization, where he worked on the 3 by 5 Initiative to expand access to lifesaving antiretroviral drugs.

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 at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

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