New York State Department of Health

New York State Department of Health
Department overview
FormedFebruary 19, 1901 (1901-02-19)
JurisdictionNew York
HeadquartersAlbany, NY
Department executive
  • James V. McDonald M.D., M.P.H., Commissioner (Appointed June 9, 2023)
Key document
Websitewww.health.ny.gov Edit this at Wikidata

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) is the department of the New York state government responsible for public health. Its regulations are compiled in title 10 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations.

Public health infrastructure

The CDC describes the public health infrastructure as three components: workforce capacity and competency: the recruitment, continuing education, and retention of health professionals; organizational capacity: the consortium of public health agencies and laboratories, working with private and nonprofit organizations; and information and data systems: the up-to-date guidelines, recommendations and health alerts, and the information and systems that monitor disease and enable efficient communication.

A nurse pinning ceremony at Nazareth College. Nurses represent a majority of rural public health workers.

New York relies on a county-based system for delivery of public health services. NYSDOH promotes the prevention and disease control, environmental health, healthy lifestyles, and emergency preparedness and response; supervises local health boards; oversees reporting and vital records; conducts surveillance of hospitals; does research at the Wadsworth Center; and administers several other health insurance programs and institutions. 58 local health departments offer core services including assessing community health, disease control and prevention, family health, and health education; 37 localities provide environmental health services, while the other 21 rely on NYSDOH.

At the local level, public health workers are found not only in local health agencies but also in private and nonprofit organizations concerned with the public's health. The most common professional disciplines are physicians, nurses, environmental specialists, laboratorians, health educators, disease investigators, outreach workers, and managers, but also includes allied health professions. Nurses represented 22% of the localities' workforce (and 42% of full-time equivalent workers in rural localities), scientific/investigative staff represented 22%–27% of the workforce, support staff represented 28%, education/outreach staff represented 10%, and physicians represented 1%. In 2018 the NYSDOH had over 3300 personnel in its central office, three regional offices, three field offices and nine district health offices, and an additional 1400 personnel in its five healthcare institutions.

History

An engraving depicting a violent mob attacking a closed gate, and above the gate a sign says "Quarantine Marine Hospital".
The 1858 Staten Island Quarantine War was a series of attacks on the New York Marine Hospital in Staten Island

The earliest New York state laws regarding public health were quarantine laws for the port of New York, first passed by the New York General Assembly in 1758. The 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic precipitated the 1799–1800 creation of the New York Marine Hospital, and in 1801 its resident physician and the health officers of the port were constituted as the New York City board of health. The 1826–1837 cholera pandemic precipitated further legislation. In 1847 a law mandated civil registration of vital events (births, marriages, and deaths). In 1866, the state legislature passed the Metropolitan Health Law and established the NYC Metropolitan Board of Health, and in 1870 the legislature replaced it with the NYC Department of Health.

The State Board of Health was created 18 May 1880 by the 103rd Legislature. The 1881–1896 cholera pandemic further caused an expansion of its powers to compel reporting and to perform the duties of local boards of health. The State Department of Health and its commissioner were created by an act of 19 February 1901 of the 124th Legislature, superseding the board.

List of commissioners

Name Dates in Office Governors Served Comments
Daniel Lewis March 6, 1901 – Early 1905 Benjamin B. Odell, Jr. Previously was President of the State Board of Health, which became the Department of Health, and served out full term
Eugene H. Porter May 1905 – Early 1914 Frank W. Higgins, Charles Evans Hughes,
Horace White, John Alden Dix,
William Sulzer, Martin H. Glynn
Served out his term
Hermann M. Biggs January 19, 1914 – June 28, 1923 Martin H. Glynn, Charles S. Whitman,
Alfred E. Smith, Nathan L. Miller
Died while serving
Matthias Nicoll Jr. July 12, 1923 – January 11, 1930 Alfred E. Smith, Franklin D. Roosevelt Resigned to become Commissioner of the Westchester County (New York) Department of Health
Thomas J. Parran, Jr. March 5, 1930 – May 6, 1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Lehman Resigned to become Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service
Edward S. Godfrey April 21, 1936 – May 1, 1947 Herbert Lehman, Charles Poletti, Thomas E. Dewey Retired
Herman E. Hilleboe July 1, 1947 – January 7, 1963 Thomas E. Dewey, W. Averell Harriman,
Nelson A. Rockefeller
Became head of the Division of Public Health Practice at the Columbia University School of Public Health
Hollis S. Ingraham January 7, 1963? – January 2, 1975 Nelson A. Rockefeller Served out full term
Robert P. Whalen January 2, 1975 – April 29, 1975 (acting)
April 29, 1975 – December 31,1978
Hugh Carey Resigned to become Vice chairman of the New York State Health Planning Commission
David Axelrod January 1, 1979 – May 12, 1991 Hugh Carey, Mario M. Cuomo Resigned after a severe stroke
Lorna McBarnette February 25, 1991 – June 9, 1992 Mario M. Cuomo Acting
Mark R. Chassin June 9, 1992 – December 31, 1994 Mario M. Cuomo Served out full term
Barbara Ann DeBuono Early February 1995 – November 1, 1998 George E. Pataki Resigned to become an executive in the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System
Dennis P. Whalen November 1, 1998 – June 1999 George E. Pataki Acting
Antonia C. Novello June 1999 – December 31, 2006 George E. Pataki Served out full term
Richard F. Daines February 2007 – December 31, 2010 Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson Served out full term
Nirav R. Shah January 24, 2011 – May 4, 2014 Andrew Cuomo Resigned to become chief operating officer at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California
Howard A. Zucker May 4, 2014 – May 5, 2015 (acting)
May 5, 2015 – December 1, 2021
Andrew Cuomo, Kathy Hochul Part of Governor Cuomo and Hochul's COVID-19 task force during the pandemic
Mary T. Bassett December 1, 2021 – January 1, 2023 Kathy Hochul Part of Governor Hochul's COVID-19 task force during the pandemic
James V. McDonald January 1, 2023 – June 9, 2023 (acting)
June 9, 2023 – current
Kathy Hochul Current commissioner

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-01-18 17:38 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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