San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has chosen a top official from former President Joe Biden’s administration to lead the city’s sprawling health department.
Daniel Tsai, former director of the federal insurance program Medicaid, will take over the Department of Public Health. The department has a roughly a $3 billion annual budget and is charged with tackling the fentanyl crisis, among other issues.
“I am excited and honored to be joining the Lurie administration and team at the Department of Public Health,” Tsai said in a statement. “This is all the more urgent given the opioid and homelessness crisis, and I look forward to partnering with stakeholders and individuals with lived experience to find new, data-driven approaches to tackling this important challenge.”
Tsai praised San Francisco’s healthcare system, saying it has some of the best talent in the nation, and said he’s committed to ensuring individuals and families can access world-class healthcare.
The announcement comes shortly after former public health director Grant Colfax stepped down. Colfax served in the position since 2019 and helped the city navigate the Covid pandemic.
Lurie has been vocal about the city’s fentanyl crisis since first launching his campaign for mayor. His first major bill, an emergency measure granting more mayoral powers to crack down on the street crisis, passed the Board of Supervisors.
“It’s going to take creativity, compassion, and collaboration to tackle the city’s drug crisis, and that’s exactly what Daniel Tsai brings to the table,” Lurie said. “Daniel’s experience is broad, but his commitment to patients and communities is clear throughout.”
Unlike his predecessor, Tsai is not a medical doctor. Before joining federal leadership in 2021, Tsai served as Massachusetts’ Medicaid director. His LinkedIn profile shows that he worked for McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm. He’s expected to work closely with Lurie’s public health policy chief Kunal Modi, also a McKinsey alum, in the newly restructured mayor’s office.
Tsai has been outspoken on protecting Medicaid, the federal insurance program that is considered a safety net for low-income and vulnerable people.
This is the second major department head Lurie has appointed since taking office. Fire Chief Dean Crispen was appointed last month.