Thomas Farley, MD MPH is the Senior Deputy Director for the Department’s Community Health Administration. This administration works to prevent the leading causes of death in the District (particularly cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes); protect and promote the health of mothers and children; and reduce racial health disparities. Units within the Community Health Administration are organized around: chronic disease prevention; perinatal and infant health; child, adolescent, and school health; nutrition and physical activity; and primary care access and quality.

Dr. Farley is Board-certified in pediatrics and was trained in epidemiology in CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. He worked in infectious disease control for the CDC and the Louisiana Office of Public Health from 1989 to 2000. He was Chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from 2000 to 2009. From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Farley was Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and from 2016 to 2021 he served as Commissioner of Health for the City of Philadelphia. In his public health leadership roles, Dr. Farley has advocated for policies and programs to reduce smoking rates, combat the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes, reduce air pollution, and reduce the overprescribing of opioids that fueled the opioid crisis. Dr. Farley is author or coauthor of more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and two general-audience books on public health.