Guiding New York City Through COVID-19 | Dave A. Chokshi, MD

Feb 14, 2023

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In the first half of 2020, New York City quickly became the American epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 200,000 cases reported in the first few months. The city came to a standstill as thousands of people died alone in hospitals and bodies piled up in freezer trucks that could not transport them away fast enough. In August 2020, amid this cataclysm, Dave Chokshi, MD assumed position as New York City's Health Commissioner and began the arduous task of repairing a broken city and restoring public trust among its residents. Prior to this work, Dr. Chokshi led the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation and was a White House Fellow at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In this episode, Dr. Chokshi joins us to share the core values that drive his public health work and how he navigated the challenges of leading New York City through COVID-19.

In this episode, you will hear about:

How Dr. Chokshi, early in his life, came to understand the association between health and opportunity - 3:52
A discussion of how privilege impacts the opportunities available to individuals and how this recognition affects Dr. Chokshi’s medical work - 7:40
How Hurricane Katrina revealed to Dr. Chokshi the flaws in our existing health systems - 15:48
Dr. Chokshi’s involvement with Universities Allied for Essential Medicine - 19:34
An account of Dr. Chokshi’s tenure as New York City Health Commissioner during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic - 24:31
Dr. Chokshi’s principles of effective leadership - 32:31
Reflections on the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and how indebted society is to nurses and hospital house staff - 37:15
Dr. Chokshi’s personal philosophy on maintaining a balanced sense of humility - 53:48
Five lessons for medical trainees and clinicians on staying connected to what makes medicine meaningful - 57:38

Dr. Chokshi briefly discussed his early work with the Committed Communities Development Trust in Mumbai, India.

You can follow Dr. Dave Chokshi on Twitter @DaveChokshi.

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