Stepping Down: Dr. Anil Vaidian MD, Dutchess County's Commissioner of Behavioral and Community Health (DBCH)
/Dr. Anil Vaidian MD, Commissioner of Behavioral and Community Health (DBCH) for Dutchess County, is stepping down after 4 years of service. Dr. Vaidian made public appearances in the winter of the pandemic 2020, making himself available to communicative opportunities like “Current Conversations” with the Highlands Current in November, 2020. He made a few other appearances on the Dutchess County Facebook page via video.
In 2021, once the COVID-19 numbers decreased in Dutchess County, Dr. Vaidian was less in the public eye. For the latest COVID-19 increase due to the Delta varient, Dutchess County did not immediately make an public health alert, when Orange and Sullivan Counties did. Days later, Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro did make an COVID-19 update via the County’s Facebook page. Dr. Vaidian was not part of that announcement.
As a point of interest as it relates to Beacon, the City of Beacon’s former City Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero, left his Administrator position in Beacon to take the position of Assistant Commissioner of Administration with the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral and Community Health.
The press release from Dutchess County is below in full:
Dutchess County Commissioner of
Behavioral and Community Health to Step Down
Poughkeepsie, NY… Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro announced today that Anil Vaidian MD, MPH will step down as the Commissioner of Behavioral and Community Health (DBCH) following a four year plus tenure dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Vaidian’s resignation is effective Friday, September 10th, 2021.
Dr. Vaidian joined the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral and Community Health in April 2017, following more than 13 years of local county public health service at the Rockland County Department of Health and Westchester County Government’s Division of Disease Control.
Dr. Vaidian’s decades of experience as an infectious disease specialist has been crucial as he has notably led the Department of Behavioral & Community Health team as they have continued to deal with the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, which has consumed public health professionals since January 2020. Dr. Vaidian has been at the forefront of the County’s efforts, providing public health guidance to the community from the initial press conference announcing the first positive case in March 2020, to hundreds of conference calls with community leaders, hospital and healthcare professionals, school district leaders, faith-based organizations as well as virtual town hall updates and videos for the public over the past 17 months.
Dr. Vaidian said, “It has been my blessed good fortune to work along with and besides such wonderful staff and colleagues dedicated to highest standards of public health and community service. I am grateful to County Executive Molinaro for the opportunity to work this talented team of people. I will miss the enthusiasm, perseverance, and unrelenting pursuit of DBCH’s mission: To protect, promote, and improve the physical, mental, and social well-being of our community. Despite the long hours and everchanging circumstances, their unwavering commitment to that mission has been evident each and every day during this battle against COVID-19 as we have sought to inform and protect our residents. I know the entire DBCH organization will continue to be successful in serving our community’s well-being.”
County Executive Molinaro said, “Dutchess County is a healthier community due to the four-plus years Dr. Vaidian served as our health commissioner. Faced with a pandemic the likes of which we’ve never seen in our lifetimes, Dr. Vaidian oversaw our county health department through its most challenging times in memory, using his infectious disease expertise to inform and educate our residents while formulating public health guidance to protect them. I thank Dr. Vaidian for his service to Dutchess County, and look forward to finding a similarly competent leader to guide the dedicated and talented DBCH staff for years to come.”
The County will begin an executive search for an individual with the necessary combination of management skill and clinical knowledge to serve as Commissioner. An Acting Commissioner from within the Department of Behavioral and Community Health will be appointed by County Executive Molinaro in September, pending approval by the New York State Department of Health.
