Ashwin Vasan
Ashwin Vasan (born November 15, 1980) is an American physician and epidemiologist serving as the 44th commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Vasan is also a public health professor and was most recently the president and CEO of Fountain House, a national mental health nonprofit. Education. Vasan earned a Master of Science from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2004. He graduated from University of Michigan Medical School in 2011 and completed a PhD from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 2015. Career. Ashwin Vasan started his career working  on HIV/AIDS, specifically, access to antiretroviral therapy in the developing world. He started his career with Partners In Health in Boston, before working for the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization on the “3by5” Initiative, under Dr Jim Yong Kim, to expand access to HIV treatment, spending time in Switzerland and ruralUganda. In 2014, Vasan joined the faculty of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where he works as an assistant professor of clinical population and family health and medicine. In 2016, Vasan was appointed to serve as the founding executive director of the  New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Health Access Equity Unit, a city-wide initiative aimed at improving the health and social welfare of marginalized communities in New York City. In 2019, Vasan was named president and CEO of Fountain House, a national mental health nonprofit that provides employment, education, housing, health and wellness programs to the mentally ill. Fountain House is notable for creating the Clubhouse model of psychosocial rehabilitation, which has been replicated in over 300 locations in 30 countries. Vasan is a practicing primary care physician at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Vasan has  been quoted as a public health expert in national and international publications including CNN, "The New York Times", NPR, CBS News, "USA Today", "The Guardian", "Forbes", WNYC, Al Jazeera, today.com, and "Insider". Vasan was also a member of the "City & State" advisory board until assuming his current role as NYC Health Commissioner. He has also served on the boards of Transportation Alternatives, inseparable, and Forward Majority. Personal life. Vasan lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three kids.