Dr. Ashwin Vasan, New York City’s outgoing Health Commissioner, said on Thursday that his earlier-than-announced exit from the Adams administration has nothing to do with the federal investigations engulfing City Hall.
Vasan made the comments, during a Pix-11 interview on Thursday morning, following reports earlier this week that his last day leading the city Health Department will now be Friday. That means Vasan will be leaving months ahead of the early next year departure date he had announced last month.
But the city’s top doctor waved away the notion that he is fleeing the administration earlier than expected, given Mayor Eric Adams’ criminal indictment last month and the continued swirl of federal probes surrounding City Hall. Instead, Vasan insisted the family reasons he originally cited for leaving last month have simply become more urgent.
He also denied that Mayor Adams is pushing him out of his position months earlier than he initially planned to leave.
“People say whatever they want, I think it’s silly season anyways,” Vasan said. “There was never any conversation related to those ongoing activities, and those aren’t really my issues nor my concern.”
Dr. Michelle Morse, the Health Department’s chief medical officer and deputy commissioner for health and community wellness, will replace Vasan in an interim capacity until the mayor finds a permanent replacement. She has been at the Health Department since late 2021, the tail end of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure.
Vasan insisted he is leaving the Health Department in good hands.
“She’s wonderful, a nationally and internally recognized leader in health equity and social justice,” Vasan said of Morse. “She knows what she’s doing and she’s ready to step up.”
The outgoing health commissioner moved his departure date up as a slew of top officials have left the administration over the past month in the wake of the mayor’s indictment and ramped up federal activity around City Hall.
Unlike Vasan, almost all of the officials who have left the administration are under federal scrutiny. Law enforcement has raided their homes and taken their electronic devices. They include former Police Commissioner Edward Caban, former Schools Chancellor David Banks, and his wife, former First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove him from office, urged Adams to oust scandal-ridden officials from his administration to offset the chaos created by his legal troubles. However, Adams denies Hochul forced his hand and continues to claim the mass exodus of top aides is unconnected to the turmoil gripping his mayoralty.
“Those who made a decision they wanted to do something else with their life, they did so,” Adams said during a Tuesday news conference. “And those individuals were not told, for the most part, that you had to leave. They made a determination.”
