Mary T. Bassett is the director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She is also an FXB professor of the practice of health and human rights in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. From December 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022, Bassett was on leave from Harvard and served as New York state’s health commissioner. Prior to joining the FXB Center, she served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; and as deputy commissioner of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Early in her career, Bassett served on the medical faculty at the University of Zimbabwe and then was associate director of health equity at the Rockefeller Foundation’s southern Africa office. After returning to the United States, she taught at Columbia University, including as associate professor of clinical epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. Bassett received a Bachelor of Arts in history and science from Harvard University, a master’s degree in public health from the University of Washington, and a doctor of medicine from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.