Dr. Mary Bassett

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett has announced she will resign on January 1.

In a statement, Bassett said she plans to return to the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

Bassett, a former New York City health commissioner, replaced Howard Zucker a year ago, who had served as a holdover from Governor Andrew Cuomo‘s administration. She was the first major appointment to Governor Kathy Hochul‘s new administration.

Bassett was the primary official in charge of the state’s response to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, an ongoing rollout of vaccinations and booster shots as well as efforts to respond to an outbreak of polio and monekypox, now known as mpox.

In a statement, Hochul said she is “deeply grateful” to Bassett for her service leading the department over the last 12 months.

Her departure comes weeks after Division of Budget Director Robert Mujica submitted his resignation to take a job leading Puerto Rico’s financial oversight agency.