Chokshi previously served in the
Louisiana Department of Health during
Hurricane Katrina. He was a
White House Fellow during the
Obama administration and served as principal health advisor to the
United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Chokshi served on the FEMA delegation to New York City after
Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Chokshi has been a primary care internist at
Bellevue Hospital since 2014 and a clinical professor of population health and medicine at the
New York University School of Medicine. In addition to serving as the chief population health officer for NYC Health + Hospitals, Chokshi was also the Chief Executive Officer of the NYC Health + Hospitals Accountable Care Organization, one of the few ACOs in the nation to achieve high quality and cost performance for ten consecutive years. Chokshi has written widely on public health and medicine including in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, The Lancet, Health Affairs, Science and Scientific American. In 2016, President Obama appointed him to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health. In August 2020, Chokshi was selected to serve as health commissioner of New York City after the previous commissioner,
Oxiris Barbot, resigned amid disagreements with then-Mayor
Bill de Blasio over the handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic. During his tenure, he led the City's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including its historic campaign to vaccinate over 6 million New Yorkers, saving tens of thousands of lives. Chokshi architected treatment strategies, navigated school and economic reopenings, and served as principal public spokesperson. Under his tenure, the Health Department's budget grew to its highest-ever level, reflecting investment in signature initiatives such as the Public Health Corps, Pandemic Response Institute, and New Family Home Visiting program. In 2021, the Department also stewarded the launch of the nation's first publicly-authorized overdose prevention centers—as well as a landmark Board of Health resolution on racism as a public health crisis. In December 2021, Chokshi announced he will serve as health commissioner until March 2022 for purposes of transition for incoming Mayor Eric Adams. Adams announced March 11, 2022 as Dr. Dave Chokshi Day "for his leadership during the pandemic and his dedication to protecting and improving the health of all New Yorkers." Chokshi stepped down from his role as health commissioner on March 15, 2022. Since stepping down, Chokshi has spoken and written about several health topics, including: the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, how to reverse the decline in American life expectancy, combating medical misinformation, universal health care, reforming public health, and focusing on 'health span' beyond lifespan. In August 2023, Chokshi was appointed the inaugural Sternberg Family Professor of Leadership at the Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership, part of the City College of New York, within the City University of New York (CUNY) system. He also teaches at the CUNY School of Public Health, where he is a senior scholar. == Personal life ==