Oxiris Barbot


Oxiris Barbot is an American pediatrician who has served as the Commissioner of Health of the City of New York since 2018.

Early life and education

Barbot was born at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan in New York City, and refers to herself as a "Nuyorican," a term of pride used by New Yorkers who have deep Puerto Rican roots. Her father committed suicide with a handgun when she was nine years old. She lived in the Patterson Houses in the Bronx, before moving with her mother to northern New Jersey.
Barbot received a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University, and a medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She completed her pediatric residency at George Washington University’s Children’s National Medical Center.

Early career

Barbot was the chief of pediatrics and community medicine at Unity Health Care, Inc., a health center in Washington, DC. She then, starting in 2003, served as medical director of the Office of School Health at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the NYC Department of Education. She then served as commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department, starting in 2010. Barbot then served as the first deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, starting in 2014.

Commissioner of Health of the City of New York

Barbot is the Commissioner of Health of the City of New York, a position she was appointed to in December 2018 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, succeeding Mary T. Bassett. She is the first Latina to head the Health Department.

Coronavirus pandemic

On January 26, 2020, over a month before the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in the New York City area in the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, Barbot said at a press conference: "We are encouraging New Yorkers to go about their everyday lives and suggest practicing everyday precautions that we do through the flu season". On February 2, with the city's first coronavirus case under investigation, Barbot stated: "The risk to New Yorkers from coronavirus is low and... our preparedness as a city is very high. There is no reason not to take the subway, not to take the bus, not to go out to your favorite restaurant, and certainly not to miss the [Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and Festival] parade next Sunday ." At the end of March, political commentator Tucker Carlson criticized her, saying "Future generations are gonna watch that video with their jaws open in disbelief. How could someone charged with protecting public health so recklessly endanger it?"
On March 2 she said that people can't contract coronavirus through casual, short-term exposure, but instead require prolonged exposure to the infected person's secretions. At a press conference on March 3, Barbot said: "We are encouraging New Yorkers to go about their everyday lives". On March 20 Barbot warned that masks should only be used by people who are showing symptoms, saying: "The time to use a mask is when someone is symptomatic, when they’re coughing, when they’re sneezing, and it’s to ensure that that individual doesn’t contaminate other folks. It gives people who are asymptomatic a false sense of security that if they wear this mask, they don’t have to wash their hands, they don’t have to cover their mouths and their noses when they cough or they sneeze."
Barbot denied a New York Police Department request for 500,000 surgical masks in mid-March. She told NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan during the heated dispute that “I don't give two rats’ asses about your cops.” Monahan asked Barbot for 500,000 masks, but she said she could only provide 50,000, saying “I need them for others.” The Detectives' Endowment Association, Sergeants Benevolent Association, and Police Benevolent Association called for her to be fired, as did Democrat Representative Max Rose. The Sergeants Benevolent Association expressed their displeasure through an obscene tweet and statement from President Ed Mullins. Barbot later apologized for her private statement.