Dr. David Axelrod

DR. DAVID AXELROD: A DRIVING FORCE FOR INNOVATION IN HEALTH CARE & POLICY

Former New York State Commissioner David Axelrod played a critical role in the development of the School of Public Health, collaborating in the 1980s with the University at Albany to establish the School as a partnership between the state health department and the University.

Axelrod worked as a research scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) prior to joining the staff of NYSDOH in the late 1960s. A decade later, he was appointed as health commissioner and held that post until ill health forced his retirement in 1991. He passed away three years later at age 59.

Under Axelrod’s leadership, New York became the first state in the nation to restrict the number of hours that hospitals can require interns and residents to work. He increased the disciplining of doctors and the imposition of fines on hospitals that violated regulations, and his innovative policies often became models for the rest of the country.

35 years later, the world-class partnership Axelrod envisioned for UAlbany and NYSDOH continues to flourish, with roughly two-thirds of faculty holding full-time appointments at NYSDOH and countless students interning within the department. The UAlbany School of Public Health honors Dr. Axelrod for his important work and stands as an example of the importance and success of approaching public health at the intersection of academia and government.

“Dr. Axelrod was an innovator. He showed this by co-founding the School of Public Health; forming Virogenetics to commercialize scientific advances in the Wadsworth Laboratory; and many other actions. His initiatives more than 30 years ago reverberate in the State to this day.”

- Peter Millock, General Counsel, New York State Department of Health, 1981-1995