James V. McDonald M.D., M.P.H., was appointed Acting Commissioner of Health for the New York State Department of Health on January 1, 2023 and confirmed as Commissioner by the State Senate on June 10th, 2023. Prior to joining the Department in July of 2022, Dr. McDonald served at the Rhode Island Department of Health since 2012. At the Rhode Island Department of Health, he served in multiple roles including, Interim Director of Health, Chief Administrative Officer of the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline, Medical Director for the COVID unit, as well as the Medical Director for Center for Customer Services and the Drug Overdose prevention program. He was also a member of the Governor’s task force on Preventing Overdose deaths. Dr. McDonald has faculty appointments at the Brown School of Public Health as well as the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. McDonald earned his M.D. from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, his pediatric residency in the US Navy, and his preventive medicine residency from the State University of New York. He earned his MPH from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He earned his B.S. in Biology from Siena College. Dr. McDonald is board certified in pediatrics as well as preventive medicine.