Former NY State Commissioner of Health Howard Zucker, MD Joins APCO Worldwide’s International Advisory Council

Washington – February 23, 2022: Former New York State Commissioner of Health Howard Alan Zucker, M.D. joined APCO Worldwide’s International Advisory Council (IAC) as a senior counselor, Founder and Executive Chairman Margery Kraus announced today.

As the state’s chief physician from 2014 until 2021, Dr. Zucker led the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and guided New York through many crises including Ebola, Zika, Legionella, a measles outbreak, opioid crisis, e-cigarettes, water safety and quality, medical marijuana, cancer prevention programs, fracking decision, End the AIDS epidemic initiative, Medicaid reform, hospital restructuring in Brooklyn, issues relating to the aging population and creation of a caregiver guide, to name a few.

APCO’s IAC and its subgroups include more than 150 recognized policy experts, business and industry leaders, former elected politicians, academics, renowned journalists, diplomats, nonprofit pioneers and other global leaders. Dr. Zucker is joining APCO during an exciting time of continued growth for its Health practice and the IAC’s Health Advisory Board (HAB). Most recently, health and public affairs expert Mathew Shearman joined APCO to lead its North America Health practice. Along with Shearman, Dr. Zucker will work with an extraordinary group of global, high-level group of experts at APCO, including Global Health Practice Lead James Tyrrell, Greater China Lead Anne Wang and Southeast Asia Lead James Yi, and HAB members Lance Leggitt, Leslie Norwalk, Fredrik Nyberg, Kavita Patel, Wayne Pines, Chew Suok Kai and Peter Urbanowicz.

Dr. Zucker trained in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, anesthesiology at University of Pennsylvania, pediatric critical care and pediatric anesthesiology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and pediatric cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is board-certified in six specialties. He served as a pediatric anesthesiologist at Montefiore, ran the pediatric ICU at New York Presbyterian Hospital and has held appointments at Yale, Columbia and Einstein medical schools, Georgetown Law and at the National Institutes of Health. He served as a White House Fellow, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization, Institute of Politics fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and Presidential Leadership Scholar.

He holds a B.S. from McGill, M.D. from George Washington University, J.D. from Fordham Law, LLM from Columbia Law and a postgraduate diploma from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Dr. Zucker created the nation’s Medical Reserve Corps, developed a talking book on health for Afghan women, worked on the federal responses to anthrax and SARS, wrote a report on the federal initiative on regenerative medicine and created a community peace index for use in international conflict regions, as part of the Massachusetts General Hospital global health team. At the World Health Organization, he tackled the issue of counterfeit medicines, access to essential medicine and intellectual property rights in public health. In addition, he worked at MIT, designed space shuttle experiments, was on the board that runs the International Space Station national lab and is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar.

For more than 38 years, APCO has been a trusted advisor and partner to private, public and non-profit clients as they try to identify and manage new and emerging issues, challenges and opportunities around the world. Established by Kraus as a single-person operation in 1984, APCO has grown to a global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping clients be catalysts for progress through its 900+ staff and International Advisory Council members in more than 30 markets, and having experience working in more than 80 markets globally, providing in-depth advice, perceptive guidance and creative approaches for its clients.