Thomas A. "Tom" Farley is an American pediatrician who served as
Commissioner of Health of the City of New York
The Commissioner of Health of the City of New York is the head of the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The commissioner is appointed by the Mayor of New York City, and also serves on the city's Board of Health with the chairperson ...
and Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Health.
Early life and education
The sixth of eight children of a patent lawyer father and full-time parent mother, Farley grew up in
Westfield, New Jersey
Westfield is a town in Union County, New Jersey, United States, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 30,316,[Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...]
from
Haverford College
Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
in 1977, and later received his MD and MPH degrees from
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
.
[
]
Career
From 1989 to 2000, he worked for the Centers for Disease Control
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
's Epidemic Intelligence Service
The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The modern EIS is a two-year, hands-on post-doctoral training program in epidemiology, with a focus on field work.
History
Creation ...
and the Louisiana Office of Public Health.[ During the decade prior to 2009, he was the chair of Tulane's department of community health sciences.][ From May 2009 until January 2014, Farley was the commissioner of the ]New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is the department of the government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcem ...
.[ While he held this position, he promoted multiple public health policies in New York City, including banning smoking in the city's parks and beaches, raising the tobacco purchasing age to 21, and oversaw the coordination of the National Salt Reduction Initiative.][ He also led the effort to enact the ]Sugary Drinks Portion Cap Rule
The sugary drinks portion cap rule, also known as the soda ban, was a proposed limit on soft drink size in New York City intended to prohibit the sale of many sweetened drinks more than 16 fluid ounces (0.47 liters) in volume to have taken effect ...
. During part of 2014, he served as the Joan H. Tisch Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy at Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
.[
Farley has written two books. ''Saving Gotham: A Billionaire Mayor, Activist Doctors, and the Fight for Eight Million Lives'' published in 2005 shows the effects of public health policy within the city of New York. His ''Prescription for a Healthy Nation: A New Approach to Improving Our Lives by Fixing Our Everyday World'' was also published in 2005 and advocates making small changes in the social environment, such as making healthy foods more accessible than junk or snack foods, will result in better health for the community.]Jim Kenney
James Francis Kenney (born August 7, 1958) is an American politician who is the 99th Mayor of Philadelphia. Kenney was first elected on November 3, 2015, defeating his Republican rival Melissa Murray Bailey after winning the crowded Democratic ...
appointed Farley commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Health.[
In 2020, as Philadelphia Health Commissioner, Farley approved the city's partnership with the organization Philly Fighting COVID despite the organization's leadership by a 22-year old university student without experience in public health or business management. Farley continued to defend the organization despite warning signs including PFC not granting the city access to data PFC had accumulated; Philly Fighting COVID losing demographic data; and PFC ceasing their testing operations, abandoning community groups who relied on them for free tests. PFC's CEO Andrei Doroshin would be described by the city as "unprofessional". Philly Fighting COVID was able to test only 20,000 people and vaccinate only 6,800 people.]1985 MOVE bombing
The 1985 MOVE bombing was the destruction of residential homes in the Osage neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, by the Philadelphia Police Department during a standoff and firefight with the radical communal organization MO ...
rather than returning the human remains to the families and without notifying the family of his actions.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farley, Thomas A.
Living people
Tulane University School of Medicine alumni
Commissioners of Health of the City of New York
Haverford College alumni
People from Westfield, New Jersey
Tulane University faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)