After a nearly 50-year career at NYC Health + Hospitals, Machelle Allen, MD, will retire March 31.
Dr. Allen has served as chief medical officer for the nation’s largest public health system since 2017, according to a March 26 news release from the organization. She has held leadership roles across the system since completing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in 1981. Before becoming CMO, she served as associate medical director and then deputy CMO at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, the health system’s flagship hospital.
Throughout her career, Dr. Allen has spearheaded initiatives to address the needs of marginalized and underserved patients. Early in her career, she served as medical director for prenatal services at Harlem Hospital, caring for pregnant women with substance use disorders. In 2024, she developed a treatment program for pregnant women and families affected by substance use in partnership with the system’s Office of Behavioral Health.
As CMO, Dr. Allen oversaw a range of clinical modernization initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the development of a systemwide telehealth ICU and helped establish wastewater surveillance to identify infection spikes early. She also spearheaded the implementation of robotic surgery across the system’s acute care sites.
NYC Health + Hospitals sees more than 1 million patients annually across its network of more than 70 locations in all five of the city’s boroughs.
