Machelle Allen, MD, is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of NYC Health + Hospitals.

A longstanding veteran of the health care system, Dr. Allen completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, worked as an attending physician at Harlem and Bellevue hospitals, and served as the Associate Medical Director at Bellevue until 2013 when she transitioned to system Deputy CMO. She was subsequently selected to be system CMO in 2017.

Dr. Allen has devoted her career to helping marginalized and underserved patients. Her early career was devoted to women who suffered from addiction or were at risk for HIV infection during their pregnancies. While women’s health and birth outcomes remain a passion, in her role as system CMO Dr. Allen developed the clinical service line structure which has resulted in the implementation of systemwide clinical initiatives, including the underpinnings of the critical care pandemic response: Level setting of the critically ill patient, tele-ICU, point of care imaging, early ICU mobility, Artificial Intelligence-based EEG interpretations, and tele-neurology, among other initiatives. The Behavioral Health service line, in response to the mental health crisis seen in New York City as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, launched the B-HEARD (Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division) program which deploys social workers along with EMS personnel as first responders, in lieu of police officers.

Dr. Allen established an Office of Clinical Operations. It is this office which instituted surveillance of the health care system’s wastewater for emerging infections. Dr. Allen also created a systemwide Office of Women’s Health Services. Under this aegis, the NYC Health + Hospitals Maternal Home was “birthed” – one of the few in New York State.

Dr. Allen is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.