Dr. Chokshi opening statement: personal background and public health career
Chokshi describes himself as a primary care doctor with a public health heart, sharing his personal journey as the first doctor in his family, his father's diabetes, and his experience caring for patients at Bellevue Hospital since 2014.
Good morning, Chair Ung and council members.
It is an honor to be with you today.
My name is Dave Choksey, and I'm a primary care doctor with a public health heart.
I've cared for patients at Bellevue Hospital since 2014, before, during, and after my service as the 43rd Health Commissioner of New York City, which is how some of you may know me.
As Commissioner, I had the privilege of chairing the Board of Health, so I come to you with deep respect for the Board and direct knowledge of its vital work on behalf of New Yorkers.
Today, my clinical practice focuses on people experiencing homelessness, and I'm a professor at the City College of New York, where I founded the Health and Opportunity Leadership Institute.
I also chair the Common Health Coalition, the largest multi-sector health coalition in the nation.
Across all of it, my career has been dedicated to saving lives and preventing suffering.
That is why I would be honored to serve again on the Board of Health.
The board is an historic institution, safeguarding New Yorkers for over two centuries.
From scourges like smallpox and cholera to present-day diseases,
like cancer and COVID-19, the board has been at the forefront of public health.
I think of its mission simply.
Adding healthy birthdays for all of us.
For my part, I came to medicine without early role models.
I am the first doctor in my family.
But like so many, I learned
learn from direct experience how closely health is tied to opportunity.
From being hospitalized with asthma as a child, to watching my father live with diabetes for decades.
Opportunity brought my father from Mumbai to Baton Rouge, where I was born and raised, and my wife's family to Queens, where we are raising our own daughters today.
My patients remind me of those journeys.
Each deserves excellent care, and each would benefit even more if their illness could be prevented in the first place.
That is the promise of public health.