Public health board appointees Gregg Gonsalves and Alice Forrester.
Yale infectious disease expert Gregg Gonsalves and local mental health clinic leader Alice Forrester won unanimous votes of approval to help guide New Haven’s ongoing response to the pandemic and other public health challenges as members of the city’s Board of Public Health Commissioners
The Board of Alders took those votes Monday night during the local legislature’s latest bimonthly full board meeting.
The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom and YouTube Live.
Alders unanimously backed Mayor Justin Elicker’s appointments of Gonsalves and Forrester to serve on the Board of Public Health Commissioners through Feb. 1, 2025.
Forrester is the CEO of the Clifford Beers Clinic, a local children’s mental health outpatient clinic where she has worked for 23 years, the last 13 as the director.
Gonsalves is an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, the co-director of the Global Health Justice Partnership, a MacArthur “genius” award winner, and a veteran social justice and public health advocate who has lived in New Haven for over a decade.
Zoom
Monday night’s Board of Alders virtual meeting.
During their respective confirmation interviews before the Aldermanic Affairs Committee in late November, both promoted access to mental health care, a ramping up of Covid testing and mask availability, and a recognition of the disparate racial, social, and economic impacts of the novel coronavirus as key public health responses to the pandemic. Gonsalves in particular discouraged punitive and shame-based practices such as imposing curfews or mask-related fines as ineffective.
“With her extensive knowledge in the health profession, [Forrester] was an ideal candidate for this position,” Fair Haven Heights Alder and Aldermanic Affairs Committee Chair Rosa Ferraro-Santana said as she urged her colleagues to vote in support of her nomination.
And after citing Gonsalves’ extensive professional experience and expertise in the realm of infectious diseases, Ferraro-Santana said, “We are building up our public health background for this committee.”
East Rock Alder Charles Decker agreed. “Dr. Gonsalves has such a wealth of knowledge,” both academic and through a lifetime of organizing.
“He has compassion. He has expertise. He’s going to be a real asset to our city.”
One bit of advice: do not give advice that you yourself cannot or will not follow. The latest example is Birx, but before her there was Newsom & the doctors he dined with, Breed of SF, Mike Hancock of Denver, Pelosi, Matt Hancock in the UK, Calderwood in Scotland, and many others.