Dearborn’s public health director is stepping away from that city to take over Detroit’s health department.
Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield announced Monday, March 2 that Ali Abazeed is taking over as Detroit’s Chief Public Health Officer, replacing Denise Fair Razo. Abazeed, 35, served as Dearborn’s founding public health director, where he spearheaded several initiatives, including bringing Rx Kids — which Detroit launched earlier this year — to Dearborn, reducing drug overdoses and expanding air quality monitoring across the city.
Prior to his role in Dearborn, Abazeed served as a public health adviser with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Abazeed will be paid a $235,000 annual salary.
“My craft is people, I love people, I center people at the work of my public health focus. I was born in Detroit, raised in Dearborn, two blocks from Tireman Avenue. If you know these parts, you know something about that border; you know what it represents; something to say about segregation; something to say about disparities and inequities. It shows up in the built environment, it shows up in the air that you breathe,” Abazeed said. “I grew up with asthma, and what I learned far before I learned the language of environmental exposure or social determinants of health, is that what my lungs taught me, which is that your ZIP code tends to be a better predictor of your health than your genetic code.”
Abazeed’s parents are Syrian refugees. His father was a professor in Syria, then a cab driver for 25 years in Detroit, he said, adding that “you learn something about the kind of dignity that we all have in labor,” but how it can take a toll on families.
“My mom, raising seven kids and taking all of us to the Herman Kiefer building when we didn’t have care, because Detroit was offering that, and so you learn something about public institutions can step up and what it looks like when they do so for people that are closest to the pain,” Abazeed said. “Health isn’t siloed. No parent views their kids’ childhood asthma as something that’s separate from transportation barriers, economic stress. It’s all together. So, why in the world do we treat it like it is siloed?”
The health department runs various services, some of which include providing immunizations, restaurant health inspections, transportation for mothers and caregivers to and from appointments, and efforts to reduce teen pregnancy and childhood lead poisoning.
Sheffield said she aims to take a “health in all policies” approach by partnering with city departments to develop internal policies that promote public health through economic development, transportation, public works and more, and to consider accessibility barriers among residents.
“In Dearborn, Ali implemented this exact model, ensuring the health department was not separate from police, from public works or economic development, but instead, it served as a partner and an adviser to each of them,” Sheffield said, adding that he “understands how to translate public health theory into practical citywide action.”
Sheffield and Abazeed previously discussed some of her main priorities, which includes addressing chronic diseases, households that are impacted by lead, asthma, and maternal and infant child health, which includes reducing infant mortality throughout the city.
The new director said this approach would “embed tentacles into every single part of the city government, because we know that 90% of your life expectancy happens in the communities” where people live, work, learn and play.
He fills the role previously held by Denise Fair Razo. Sheffield described Razo as someone who served diligently for over six years and “laid the foundation for a lot of the public health work that has transpired” in the city.
“As we campaigned, there was a desire for a combination of institutional and existing leadership to stay in place, but also welcome in new faces. And the health department was one we felt it was time, maybe, for some new leadership. Not to say that there was anything wrong with the direction that it was going, but wanted to bring more innovation and new direction,” Sheffield said.
Abazeed is a three-time graduate of the University of Michigan and moved to Washington, DC in 2017 to serve as a public health adviser for NIH. He worked across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Office of the Secretary, Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, where he advised senior federal officials on policies to shape national priorities.
In 2022, he joined Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud’s administration, forming and leading the city’s health department. He added that Hammoud was supportive of his work and decision to transition to a new role.
“You can’t write the story of America without a huge chapter in there for the city of Detroit. This is one of the most historic cities in America and that’s not something I take lightly. So when an opportunity comes to improve the health and well-being of this city, to work with this incredible team, to work for this mayor, for the people, that’s not something I was willing to ignore,” Abazeed said.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.