Equity and preventable illnesses drive new Monroe County Health Commissioner Dr. Marielena Vélez de Brown’s policy priorities

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Dr. Marielena Vélez de Brown has been appointed to a six-year term as the Monroe County Health Commissioner. She takes over for Doctor Mike Mendoza who resigned abruptly back in April.

Dr. Vélez de Brown isn’t new to the health department. She has been the deputy commissioner since 2016 so, she knows the mission and the people who work to ensure its fulfilled. 

It was frustration that drove Dr. Vélez de Brown, a family medicine practitioner, into public health. She says many of her patients developed preventable illnesses because of a lack of resources.

“Do you have enough food to put on the table, do you have a safe place to move your body and be physically active, a person’s ability to read or write numbers, to understand what is written for them, that’s why I wanted to work further up the chain to address the societal concerns that lead to these outcomes,” she tells News10NBC. 

As she crafts her own policy to try and help move the community forward, that will be front of mind.

“The other deeply held value that drives me in this work is also thinking about equity. My family’s from Puerto Rico. I was born and raised in North Philly, and there are a lot of health disparities there as there are here that impact communities of color and communities living in poverty,” says Dr. Vélez de Brown.

Watch: An extended interview with Dr. Vélez de Brown:

As the deputy commissioner, Dr. Vélez de Brown was second in command during the pandemic. She wants to grow the partnerships she built.

“The nursing homes, the homeless shelters, K-12 school districts, there were calls with colleges and universities and so we were able to build on and strengthen some of those relationships and so my goal is to kind of stop the slow devolving back into our separated silos,” she says. “I really want to make sure that we maintain those relationships because we know there’s going to be a next thing.”

Jennifer Lewke, News10NBC: “We saw during the pandemic that there was a lot of debate and rhetoric and ugliness. Was there any part of you that said I’m not signing up for that?”

Dr. Vélez de Brown: “I’m not going to pretend that there wasn’t some consideration. I mean during the pandemic things got pretty ugly for many folks. There were threats made against my predecessor and his family and his children and his wife so that was a reality that I needed to consider in terms of physical safety for my family.”

The opioid crisis, seasonal illnesses, access to care and immunizations, restaurant inspections, rabies prevention, are just some of the areas in public health that Dr. Vélez de Brown is now in charge of. Add to that, the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Jennifer Lewke: “We have done some stories on that over the last couple of years, about the sheer volume that is being experienced there and the length of time it takes for some families to get answers. How do you look at that task ahead and managing that and making it better for families?”

Dr. Vélez de Brown: “Yeah, according to the number of deaths we have, if we were to meet national standards for the caseload, we would need to hire two more medical examiners to manage this number of cases…We’re just not, as a country producing enough forensic pathologists to fill all the open positions and so that is putting a higher burden on the medical examiners that we do have. “

There were also a number of public health issues that have been floated during the presidential election that could have impacts locally.

Jennifer Lewke: “Where do you stand on fluoride in the water if that does get discussed at a federal level?”

Dr. Vélez de Brown: “I think that the data are very clear that when you have a certain level of fluoride in the water that it improves oral health…That is a population wide intervention, even if someone can’t afford toothpaste or don’t know that it’s important to buy fluorinated toothpaste, even if they don’t have access to a dentist we all access water and so that’s a way to improve the health of all populations in one fell swoop.”

So, she’s 100% on fluoride and 100% on recommending childhood vaccines.

Dr. Vélez de Brown was confirmed to a six-year appointment as Monroe County’s Health Commissioner. She will also continue to serve as the medical director of Starlight Pediatrics which is a clinic that provides primary care to children involved with Monroe County Child Protective Services.

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