Governor Kathy Hochul yesterday appointed Dr. Mary Bassett Commissioner of the Department of Health. She’ll officially start the job December 1st. Dr. Bassett serves as director of the Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. From 2014 through 2018, she served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she helped lead the response to Ebola, Legionnaires’ and other disease outbreaks. She’ll take over for Dr. Howard Zucker, who submitted his resignation last week, but is staying on until Dr. Basset officially begins in the position. Dr. Zucker has come under fire for possibly helping former governor Andrew Cuomo hide the coronavirus death toll in nursing homes and keeping other data from the Legislature.
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