Black Doctor Appointed First-Ever CMO in NYC Health Department

New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has appointed Dr. Michelle Morse to serve as the agency’s first chief medical officer (CMO).

“As the agency’s inaugural chief medical officer, Dr. Morse will have the responsibility of leading the agency’s work in bridging public health and health care, ensuring greater alignment and coordination with health care systems, and serving as a key liaison to clinicians and clinical leaders across New York City,” said the DOHMH in a statement on Tuesday.

“Dr. Morse’s experience has combined the best of public health, social medicine, anti-racism education, and activism,” said DOHMH Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi. “Health equity requires leaders who propel change and I am grateful that she has joined the Department to help us create a healthier, more equitable, city.”

Dr. Morse, who is also DOHMH deputy commissioner, said she was “honored to join the department and serve New Yorkers during this once-in-a-century pandemic because operationalizing health equity is more urgent than ever.

“My past experiences from coordinating earthquake and cholera response work in Haiti to developing new organizations and programs that advance health equity and accountability have brought me to this juncture,” she said. “I cannot wait to learn from my colleagues and team at the Health Department and the communities we serve across the city.”

- Advertisement -

Dr. Morse will succeed Dr. Torian Easterling as the head of the Centre for Health Equity and Community Wellness (CHECW), where she will oversee the agency’s work focused on increasing understanding of health inequities and capacity for action to end disparities within the DOHMH and the communities we serve, reducing premature mortality, with a focus on chronic disease, and ending racial inequities in the leading causes of preventable death.

Dr. Easterling was appointed to serve as the agency’s First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer in September 2020.

Dr. Morse is an internal medicine hospitalist, co-founder of EqualHealth, and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, the DOHMH said.

It said EqualHealth is a non-profit organization that builds critical consciousness and collective action globally in the pursuit of health equity for all.

Dr. Morse was previously the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Partners in Health (PIH) and now serves on the PIH board of directors, the DOHMH said.

In 2015, the DOHMH said Dr. Morse worked with several EqualHealth partners to found the Social Medicine Consortium (SMC), a global coalition that seeks to use activism and disruptive pedagogy rooted in the practice and teaching of social medicine to address the miseducation of health professionals on the root causes of illness.

In 2018, Dr. Morse was awarded as a Soros Equality Fellowship working with colleagues to launch EqualHealth’s global Campaign Against Racism.

In September 2019, the DOHMH said she began a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship in Washington, D.C and worked with the US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, Majority Staff, on health equity priorities.

As a Howard Hiatt Global Health Equity resident in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 2008-2012, Dr. Morse worked in Haiti, Rwanda, and Botswana.

The DOHMH said she focused her international work in Haiti, where she helped to coordinate Partners in Health’s (PIH) earthquake relief efforts, was a first-responder for the cholera epidemic, and worked on women’s health and quality improvement projects.

Dr. Morse earned her B.S. in French in 2003 from the University of Virginia, her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2008, and her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health in May 2012.

CMC

More Stories

Vishnu Dhanpaul Trinidad cabinet

New Trinidad PM Stuart Young announces new cabinet appointments

Newly-appointed Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Stuart Young has unveiled his Cabinet, introducing several new appointments while retaining many key ministers. The official announcement...
Bahamas Health Minister

Bahamas Health Minister defends Cuban health workers amid US criticism

Health Minister Dr. Michael Darville has defended the presence of Cuban health workers in The Bahamas, emphasizing their crucial role in the country’s optometry...
Trinidad Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley

Dr. Keith Rowley calls for Trinidad to leave Privy Council in final address as PM

Former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley used his final address in office to make a passionate case for Trinidad and Tobago’s exit from the...
Stuart Young

Stuart Young sworn in as Trinidad and Tobago’s 8th Prime Minister

In a historic ceremony at the President's House this morning, Stuart Young was sworn in as the 8th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago,...
Horace Chang Jamaica

Jamaica on track for historic low murder rate, says Minister Chang

Jamaica could be on track to record fewer than 1,000 murders in a single year for the first time in recent history, as the...
Guyana G7

G7 condemns Venezuela’s naval threats against Guyana

The G7 nations have issued a strong rebuke to Venezuela over its continued naval incursions into Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), calling them “unacceptable”...
Audrey Marks, Delano Seiveright

Senators Audrey Marks, Delano Seiveright appointed to ministerial roles

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has appointed two newly sworn-in government senators, Audrey Marks and Delano Seiveright, to ministerial positions, reinforcing his Administration’s focus...
Antigua and Barbuda says it will accept nationals deported from the US

Antigua and Barbuda seeks clarification on draft US travel ban proposal

The government of Antigua and Barbuda has formally sought clarification from the United States following reports that the Caribbean nation could be among the...
Andrew Holness

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness hints at election announcement ‘very soon’

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has hinted that the countdown to general elections has begun, telling supporters that “every Jamaican will be called upon...
Marco Rubio

US applauds Belize’s democratic elections, pledges continued partnership

The United States has congratulated Prime Minister John Briceño on his re-election, reaffirming its commitment to strengthening bilateral ties with Belize. In an official statement,...

Latest Articles

Skip to content