New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan is planning to step down by early next year, City Hall confirmed on Monday, as Mayor Eric Adams’ administration faces multiple federal investigations involving top officials.
In a statement on his resignation, Vasan said he needed to spend more time with his family, adding that his wife and children “have served alongside me, bearing the brunt of my absence and shouldering so much.”
“While this was a hard decision, it was the right one for me and my family,” Vasan said. “I also look forward to continuing my clinical work and teaching, while supporting initiatives to advance health, equity, and access across this city and this nation.”
Vasan has worked alongside Adams since 2022, when the mayor took office, and has helped lead the city’s response to COVID-19, a major outbreak of the virus mpox, and mental health issues. He gave his notice on Monday morning, according to Politico, which first reported the news.
“[Vasan’s] expertise as a mental health expert, coupled with his training as a public health professional, have proven 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,” Adams said in a statement.
Vasan came to the position with 20 years of experience in public health as an epidemiologist and primary care physician. He previously worked in the city’s health department between 2016 and 2019.
One of his priorities as commissioner has been youth mental health, which he said is at “crisis” levels. He launched the city’s popular online therapy program Teenspace and made headlines by declaring social media an official public health hazard.
Anne Williams-Isom, deputy mayor for health and human services, praised Vasan for helping to launch the Citywide Doula Initiative and other efforts to reduce racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.
“We are a healthier city for his tenure and thank him and his family for their service to the city,” she said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Dr. Vasan through the end of the year for a smooth transition.”
Vasan’s tenure has not been without controversy. In July 2022, a senior health official got reassigned from his role within the health department’s bureau of communicable disease after publicly criticizing the city’s mpox response. A spokesperson for the department declined at the time to comment on the matter.
Vasan’s most recent role before city health commissioner was CEO of Fountain House, a mental health clubhouse that provides community space and social services to people with serious mental health issues. As commissioner, he launched a plan to enroll more New Yorkers in such clubhouses, but the administration also moved to stop funding several existing facilities, leading some New Yorkers who benefit from these services to protest and the City Council to provide some discretionary funding.
