Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, a member of the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC)’s board of directors, has been appointed by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio as Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“Dave has been an unrelenting champion of primary care, public health, and equity for his entire career,” said PCDC Chief Executive Officer Louise Cohen. “The Primary Care Development Corporation extends our warmest congratulations in his new role and looks forward to his continued commitment to serving New Yorkers as he leads the City’s public health response in a pivotal moment in our history.”
“There is no question that Dave has played a vital role as a member of the PCDC board for the last three years,” said David Gould, PCDC Board Chair. “We know he will take his experience as a frontline primary care physician and his passion for public health to his new role – for which the city will benefit mightily.”
Prior to his appointment, Dr. Chokshi was Chief Population Health Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals — the largest public health care system in the country. In addition to his leadership in local, state, and federal health agencies, he has written on medicine and public health in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, The Lancet, and Health Affairs, as well as contributed to The Atlantic and Scientific American. Recently, Dr. Chokshi served as a featured panelist in PCDC’s Primary Care in COVID-19 Relief, Response, and Resiliency webinar series to discuss strategies and best practices for primary care’s response to the pandemic. On the 40th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration on primary care, he and Cohen co-authored the JAMA article, Progress in Primary Care – From Alma-Ata to Astana on the need for increased investment in primary care.
Founded by Mayor David Dinkins and a visionary group of health and civic leaders in 1993, the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) has partnered with the City of New York for nearly 30 years to finance and enhance primary care access for millions of New Yorkers in neighborhoods across all five boroughs. Today, PCDC is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization and a U.S. Treasury-certified community development financial institution (CDFI) that catalyzes excellence in primary care through strategic community investment, capacity building, and policy initiatives to achieve health equity.
