5 Skills Public Health Officials Need to Combat the Next Pandemic

Lessons from leaders of New York City’s Covid-19 response.

by

and

Dave A. Chokshi

by

and

Dave A. Chokshi

December 02, 2021

HBR Staff

Summary.

The pandemic has highlighted the huge challenges that public health agencies face in combating such major, fast-moving threats. In this article, the people who led New York City’s response to the pandemic, highlight five leadership skills that public health managers require and recommend training programs to ensure that they have them.

In the United States, federal and state initiatives to revitalize public health agencies have focused primarily on hiring and training frontline personnel, such as community health workers, epidemiologists, and microbiologists. The Covid-19 pandemic also exposed a need to improve leadership skills of executives of public health agencies.

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Jay K. Varma, MD, is a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medical School. He served New York City’s mayor as the senior advisor for public health from April 4, 2020, until May 1, 2021, and continues to advise the mayor as a consultant. He also worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Bangkok, Beijing, Addis Ababa, and New York City from 2001 until August 1, 2021.
Theodore G. Long, MD, is senior vice president of ambulatory care and population health at New York City Health + Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the United States. He is also the executive director of the NYC Covid-19 Test & Trace Corps, which is responsible for Covid-19 testing and contact tracing for the more than 8 million residents of New York City.
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, is the 43rd health commissioner of New York City and a primary care doctor at Bellevue Hospital.

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Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Crisis Management. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.

Learn how to manage uncertainty, dispel rumors, and help your team recover.

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5 Skills Public Health Officials Need to Combat the Next Pandemic

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