Emergency medicine physician and civic health pioneer to lead public health for nearly 9 million New Yorkers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2026
Contact:
Vot-ER Communications
press@vot-er.org
NEW YORK, NY — Vot-ER, the national nonpartisan organization that integrates voter registration into healthcare settings, proudly announces that its founder, Dr. Alister Martin, has been announced as the Health Commissioner of New York City.
Dr. Martin who was born in New York City and spent his early childhood in Jackson Heights, Queens, is an emergency medicine physician and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Senior Fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University. He founded Vot-ER in 2019 after recognizing that healthcare settings offered a unique opportunity to strengthen democratic participation among underserved communities. Vot-ER built a movement where over 1,700 healthcare institutions sent nearly 2 million voting reminders to their patients and staff in 2024 alone.
As NYC Health Commissioner, Dr. Martin will lead the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, one of the oldest and most influential public health agencies in the nation, serving nearly nine million New Yorkers.
“Every day in the emergency room, I see how policies shape health outcomes, from housing stability to air quality to access to care,” said Dr. Alister Martin. “New Yorkers deserve a public health system that not only treats illness but addresses the root causes of health inequity. I am honored to bring the lessons we’ve learned at Vot-ER, that civic engagement and community voice are essential to health, to this incredible city.”
His career has been defined by innovative approaches to leveraging healthcare settings for social impact, including founding Get Waivered, which helped transform emergency departments into entry points for opioid addiction treatment, co-founding GOTVax, which delivered vaccines directly to vulnerable communities, and launching Link Health, a navigator based program that connects low income patients to public benefits and cash assistance to improve health outcomes and financial stability.
“Dr. Martin’s appointment is a landmark moment for the civic health movement,” said Lizet Ocampo, Executive Director of Vot-ER. “For years, Dr. Martin has championed the idea that voting and health are inextricably linked. Now, in one of the most visible public health roles in the nation, he will have the opportunity to model what it looks like when government truly centers community voice and health equity. We could not be prouder of him, and we are more committed than ever to continuing the mission he founded.”
Vot-ER will continue its nonpartisan work under the leadership of Executive Director Lizet Ocampo, expanding civic health programming and partnerships with healthcare institutions nationwide.
About Vot-ER
Vot-ER is a national nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that empowers healthcare providers to integrate voter registration and civic engagement into patient care. Since 2019, Vot-ER has trained over 80,000 healthcare workers and partnered with more than 1,700 hospitals and clinical sites to help patients register to vote and participate in democracy. Learn more at www.vot-er.org.
About A Healthier Democracy
A Healthier Democracy is a nonprofit organization that leverages healthcare workers and healthcare settings to build programs and movements serving the needs of vulnerable patients. Its initiatives include Vot-ER, Get Waivered, GOTVax, and Link Health.
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