| Howard A. Zucker | |
| Office: | Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health |
| Term Start: | 2015 |
| Term End: | 2021 |
| Governor: | Andrew Cuomo Kathy Hochul |
| Predecessor: | Nirav R. Shah |
| Successor: | Mary T. Bassett |
| Birth Date: | 6 September 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | McGill University (B.S.) George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences (M.D.) Fordham University Law School (J.D.) Columbia University Law School (LL.M) London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine |
| Occupation: | Medical administrator |
| Profession: | Physician |
| Mawards: | is not set --> |
Howard A. Zucker (born September 6, 1959) served as the 16th commissioner of the New York State Department of Health from 2015-2021. He was appointed to the position by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2015 and had served as Acting Commissioner the prior year after the abrupt resignation of Nirav Shah.[1] [2]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he appeared frequently in media as the ultimate expert on the status of the pandemic in the State of New York.[3]
In January 2021, the New York Attorney General’s office released a report showing that the New York Department of Health under-counted statewide nursing home deaths by as much as 50%.[4] Both Governor Cuomo and Zucker were blamed for the under-count.[5]
During the presidency of George W. Bush, Zucker was a White House Fellow and latter Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services under Tommy Thompson. Afterwards, he served as the assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization.[6]