David Axelrod

David Axelrod (1935–1994) was a New York physician and bureaucrat. Career After obtaining his medical degree from Harvard in 1960, he served a two-year residency in Rochester. He then worked for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland as a virus research scientist until joining the New York State Department of Health in 1968. He was Health Commissioner for the State of New York in the 1980s and 1990s. He was appointed by Governor Hugh Carey and served under Governor Mario Cuomo as well. He is considered to be the nation's foremost public health official of the 1980s. He is also considered grossly ineffective when dealing with Love Canal and it chemical contamination. His inability to grasp the problems and express concern for the residence is reason enough to remove him from his position. Totally ineffective and unwilling to get families relocated. He worked on issues of regulating doctors and hospitals, the confidentiality of AIDS patients, anti-smoking legislation and universal health insurance.