Dr. Alister Martin on the Future of Public Health in New York City

Great.

So, uh, you took on this role in, I believe, January of this year, and I'm wondering if you can tell us a little bit about sort of the pitch from Mayor Mamdani when he asked you to take on this role, um, and then sort of now jumping forward eight or nine months, uh, what has it been like? What have been your biggest surprises so far?

Well, I'll tell you that this was the end of 2025, and, um, that was a difficult period for me.

I think, you know, uh, I'd spent my life, um, my professional life really working, um, at this intersection of clinical care and public policy, all fundamentally motivated, uh, by, by a singular question, which is, um, how do we push our healthcare system and our nation to a direction that's more fair, more just, and takes better care of all of its citizens? And you know, I, I, I'll tell you that the election of Donald Trump a second time, I think, for me, knocked me back on my heels.

I'd spent time working in politics, you know, at the, uh, the House level, working for a governor, working even for, um, Vice President Kamala Harris while she was in the White House, and that election really put me back on my heels, and, and, uh, it made me think about should I continue to be asking this question? Is America in a position, uh, where it can change? Do the system, uh, do, do the fundamental building blocks of the system that we have work anymore? And I think the election of Mayor Mamdani, for me, demonstrated to me that it did, right? That the, the building blocks still are, uh, functioning, that there is potential, there is an opportunity to get back on track with regard to this country, get back on track with regard to healthcare, to public health, and the direction that our country's going in.

So the pitch was very clear, right? It was, you know, let's build the future of not just ...

healthcare and public health in this country, but, but also let's rebuild trust and faith in America again.

I think that is what we are all committed to doing across the entire agency, uh, the entire, uh, administration, is really building this new era of government services and delivering on that promise for New Yorkers.