How one Haitian mom’s journey put son on path to become NYC’s Health Commissioner 

NEW YORK — At 11 years old, a boy in Jackson Heights overheard a startling conversation that put him on the path to becoming Dr. Alister Martin, commissioner of the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). After his Haitian-born mother had been diagnosed with metastatic cancer, her friend asked what would happen to the boy when she died.

But, three years later, after chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, she was cancer-free.

“That was the first time I had seen superheroes in real life,” he said. “It was the first time I understood the power of medicine,” he said.

Today, Dr. Martin is leading one of the world’s largest public health entities. Appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in January, Dr. Martin sits in one of the most influential public health roles in the world. In between those years, he earned his degrees in medicine and public policy from Harvard, worked as an emergency physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and served as a senior advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Guiding him throughout and defining his leadership is the foundation his mother Sandra McKinley built — an upbringing rooted in Haitian pride and perseverance. Her journey from working as a fry cook at McDonald’s to earning multiple degrees and consulting for the United Nations, among several careers, has also inspired him to work hard and overcome challenges.

McKinley shared her thoughts on his appointment, in a statement to The Haitian Times: 

“Haitian history teaches that adversity is not the end of the story. It teaches that liberty requires conviction, sacrifice and vigilance. It teaches that governance, self-determination and national dignity are inseparable from the refusal to accept dehumanization. 

“For younger generations, this history is not simply a source of pride; it is a source of moral and political education. It reminds them that freedom is never handed down generously, but won through struggle and preserved through memory. 

“This is how and why I taught my son Haitian history.”

The interview with Dr. Martin, held in April, follows. It has been condensed and edited for clarity.

The Haitian Times: Congratulations on your appointment. What did it feel like to learn you were being considered and to actually get the job of being our city’s top doctor?

Dr. Alister Martin: Thank you very much. I have to say, it’s a privilege and an honor of a lifetime to be able to do this work of helping to keep the greatest city in the world healthy and safe. 

For me, it was a homecoming. My earliest memories are of growing up in this little co-op that my mom, who immigrated to this country from Haiti, rented in Jackson Heights, Queens. I’m really excited to come back to help take care of the city’s residents, to demonstrate what it looks like when public health departments really take care of their people — and to provide that model for the country.

What I’ll say to that is, I might be the first health commissioner that’s of Haitian heritage or descent, but I will not be the last. 

Early lessons learned take root

THT: So, yes, you mentioned your mom right off and growing up in Jackson Heights. What was your home life like then? What were some of the Haitian values your mom instilled that really stuck with you?

Dr. Martin: My dad left when I was very young. My experience in those days was, ‘It’s just my mom and I.’ She was my hero — is my hero — my best educator, my personal historian. She is the person who has taught me the importance of where we come from. The stories of Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines and the people who helped create the Haitian Revolution.

So my experience growing up was, if there was ever something that I felt like I couldn’t do, my mom would say, ‘You have the blood of Dessalines in you. You have greatness in you. You have resilience in you.’ I know that I’m made up of something different, that I’m somebody who can withstand and overcome challenges. That is directly related to the place where I come from.

THT: You speak so highly of your mom, and have shared how she went from being a fry cook at McDonald’s to a consultant at the United Nations. I imagine having that role model in your life, seeing her go through that evolution day to day, also had an impact.

Dr. Martin: It certainly did. Obviously, I love my mom, I think she’s the best in the world. But, you know, her story is not all that dissimilar from so many Haitian immigrants in this country. They understand the value of education, the value of hard work, the value of putting one foot in front of the other and just making it. Doing what needs to happen to provide for your family, to create the foundation that your family needs to be successful.

So, yes, my mom first started working at McDonald’s, like many other immigrants. But, she went on and got three master’s degrees. She later became a consultant for the United Nations — her first big career, flying all over Western Africa doing gender rights consulting work. She eventually became a public school teacher. After that, she became a nurse herself, in the program that I now run, through the health department. So it’s a real nice, full-circle moment. 

THT: She sounds like a real renaissance woman. She must have opened up your world and exposed you to many different professions. So at which point did you think, ‘I’m going to be a doctor?’ Why medicine? And then public service?

Dr. Martin: My mom had metastatic cancer when I was probably like 11. I didn’t know what that meant until the person she was dating at the time was on the phone talking to somebody else. One of the things he asked was, ‘Where does he go when his mom dies?’

For me, that was sort of like ‘Oh, I get it now. I know what cancer is.’ I got a reality check. From then, I learned to not make more trouble for my mom, to do my best to not add to her already-strained load. I learned to take care of things myself, to solve my own problems. I sort of understood that this was a done deal. 

But about three years later, after my mom had chemotherapy and radiation, and some surgeries — these doctors told me that my mom was cancer-free. That was the first time I had seen superheroes in real life. I hadn’t even really known what doctors did. It was the first experience I had where I understood the power of medicine. That was like a seed being planted. 

Tackling social issues before they become health problems 

THT: Of all your achievements, what struck me the most is how you eventually became an advisor to then-Vice President Kamala Harris and founded Vot-ER. Can you talk a little bit about what made you go the route of serving communities? 

Dr. Martin: The organization that I founded is now called A Healthier Democracy. It creates interventions and programs that meet patients in health care settings. It tries to address some of the upstream public health problems, so they don’t have to come to an E.R or an urgent care. 

I’ll give you a couple of examples. Get Waivered is one. That was about figuring out how to convert places like emergency rooms into the front door for addiction recovery. So if somebody is struggling with an opioid addiction, we could get them treatment or medication before they overdose, connect them to services so they don’t have to hit rock bottom first.

Another example is a program called Link Health. I was with the vice president, working at the White House, where I identified that every single year, over $140 billion goes unspent because people are not signing up for things like SNAP, which is money for food. Rental assistance, which helps you pay your rent or your phone bill. 

All of these programs are there for folks, but they’re not enrolling because they don’t know about it or it’s too hard to enroll. So Link Health went right to places like community health centers, places like primary care centers, church basements and bodegas — and did the work of enrolling people in these different benefits, and connecting patients to millions of dollars. 

So that’s the same energy, the same program and same methods that we’re leveraging here at the Health Department. How can we not just stand back and give recommendations and right advice and guidance. But how can we get in there? Roll up our sleeves, and help people solve some of their challenges before the issues end up being health symptoms.

THT: Right. We’ve reported on something similar, the social care networks that are state-run and available to Medicaid recipients. This brings me to the critical issue of maintaining our health insurance, which you have spoken about recently. 

Dr. Martin: This is one of the biggest crises that we have. Starting January 1st, it’s going to be incredibly challenging for people who are on Medicaid — millions of people here in this city. It’s going to get really challenging because of two things. Number one, the federal government has passed a law saying that every single month, you have to prove you’re working by filling out some paperwork. The second [thing] is that every six months, you have to reapply for Medicaid for insurance, whereas everyone else can reapply once a year. 

This is a deliberate attempt to limit who can get access to healthcare. Our health department is not waiting for someone else to come save the day. We’re stepping in and stepping up. We’re beginning to plan ground campaigns to help people renew in person, peer campaigns to text people reminders and advertisements to give them a heads-up. We’re also looking to pull broader, systemic regulatory levers to give people the heads or to get them exempted from this requirement.

THT: We’ve been covering how a lot of the policies we’re seeing are meant to make life so difficult for immigrants that they just give up and say, ‘Okay, I’m going back to my country.’ So what do we do as a community now, as a community, as New Yorkers? 

Dr. Martin: Three things. The first is our network of neighborhood health action centers. These are really incredible resources for communities. The whole focus is us as a health department solving your problems. I’ll give you an example. Yesterday [April 15], was tax day. We were there helping people with their taxes, helping them get access to over $11,000 a year. They can get an earned income tax credit or enroll in the new Empire State Child Tax Credit, which gives them $1,000, for every child under four. Moving forward, we’re going to be able to help people make sure they get their Medicare/Medicaid application filled and do the work requirements. 

The second thing is the 11 health clinics we run across the city that are free, low cost, no cost. It doesn’t matter if you have insurance or not. [They focus] on three things: immunizations, shots, vaccines; sexual health; and tuberculosis. 

The last component is messaging folks, and doing paid media and ads. We’re going to be on social media. We’re going to hopefully be everywhere before January 1st. But if you have any questions or don’t know where to go: Call 311. That’s the best way to get a sense of different options and appointments to help navigate this period.

THT: I imagine there’s language access support available at all three of these initiatives for people who aren’t necessarily fluent in English.

Dr. Martin: Absolutely. 

Programs to save moms and babies expanded

THT: I’d be remiss not to ask you about maternal health, because the maternal mortality rate has been so persistent in the city, and in the Haitian community in particular. What are some of the initiatives in place to reduce that disparity?

Dr. Martin: The challenges are stark. In this city alone, Black women who are pregnant, giving birth, are five times more likely to have negative health outcomes. That is unacceptable. Unconscionable. So we have acted and we will continue to act. 

One of the most important initiatives that I can share is our Citywide Doula Initiative. This is a really incredible program where doulas accompany a pregnant person through pregnancy, birth and delivery. Over three years, we saw zero maternal deaths. This is a program that works, that we will continue.

The second is our Nurse Partnership Program that I mentioned my mom was initially part of. As soon as an at-risk person is pregnant, a Nurse Partnership nurse gets engaged. Comes and visits every other week while the person is pregnant, and goes through the birthing process and then all the way up to two years after the child is home. 

A delightful prescription for good health 

THT: So, you’re the first Haitian Commissioner, as you said. How do we make sure you’re not the last? What do we need to do as a community in terms of our physical and mental health to make sure we raise children to be in your position or greater?

Dr. Martin: The data is very clear that health outcomes are determined by the social contextual factors that people live in more than anything that happens in a hospital. About 80% of a person’s health outcomes are due to what we call the social determinants of health. Things like do you have fresh food that’s nutritious in your neighborhood? Access to jobs that pay you a living wage? Do you have access to housing that is safe and affordable? 

So ultimately, this mayor and this administration are focused on fundamentally changing what’s happening at the level of the social determinants of health: Housing, food, access to childcare. 

If there’s any one thing [the community] can do, it is to continue to support and voice their concerns. Let us know what we’re getting right, what we’re getting wrong. Be active in the process of fundamentally changing the civic infrastructure that makes all of this possible. That is what is going to make New York City and this country healthier than ever. 

THT: I love that. And if I could just ask one more quick question. I would like to know, how do you take care of you and your health? What’s your daily or weekly routine like? 

Dr. Martin: You ready for this answer, Mac? [Fiddles with phone, and strains of “Carimi” song comes on.] 

You gotta dance, man! Life is too short.

THT: I love it. Thank you so much, Dr. Martin, for making time to speak with us, to showcase Haitian excellence across our city and the globe.

Dr. Martin: Talk soon. Thank you very much.

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