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NYC health commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett to take Harvard job

The New York Daily News - 8/2/2018

Aug. 02--New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett, will leave the de Blasio administration next month to take a job at Harvard, the health department said Thursday.

Dr. Bassett, who brought to the city three decades of public health expertise and a desire to confront racial and economic inequities in the health system, was the face of the city's response to crises like a doctor being diagnosed with Ebola. But the agency has been embroiled in the city housing authority's growing lead paint scandal after the Daily News reported that the Health Department knew there were 820 children living in NYCHA buildings who tested positive for levels of lead deemed dangerous by the Centers for Disease Control -- despite the mayor's assertion only a handful of children were harmed.

She's leaving the commissioner's job to lead the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University, according to Politico New York, which first reported her departure.

Dr. Bassett told the site she was planning to leave and that her departure was unrelated to newly launched investigations into the department's handling of lead paint.

"Dr. Bassett brought equity to the forefront of public health in New York City. She led the push to bring health centers to underserved neighborhoods and helped ensure New Yorkers struggling with opioid addiction received the care they needed. Her approach to public health is helping make New York City a better, fairer and more just city," Mayor de Blasio said.

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