After nearly eight years as what Mayor Muriel Bowser called 鈥渢he District鈥檚 doctor,鈥� Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt is leaving her post as director of DC Health at the end of the month.
On Thursday, she joined WTOP鈥檚 Megan Cloherty and Luke Garrett on our DMV Download podcast to talk about her legacy and about what鈥檚 next. (Listen to the podcast below or on any podcast platform.)
Nesbitt, a Michigan native, is finishing up her second stint with DC Health, having served as senior deputy director from 2008 to 2011.
鈥淚 was more than honored and absolutely elated when Mayor Bowser appointed me as director back in 2015,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his job has absolutely been an honor, and the privilege of a lifetime.鈥�
That said, she鈥檚 looking for a new opportunity to work in public health: 鈥淭here’s a lot we need to do to improve the health of our communities. And at this point in my career, I’d like to be able to address the health of our communities from a different vantage point, other than governmental public health.鈥�
Bowser, at an event Thursday, said, 鈥淚鈥檓 glad we were able to keep her in public health and public service as long as we did.鈥�
The pandemic
Most people鈥檚 familiarity with Nesbitt grew from the daily briefings she gave with Bowser and other governmental and health officials in the early days of the pandemic.
鈥淪he鈥檚 outstanding, and I think D.C. residents know that,鈥� Bowser said at an event Thursday. In the pandemic briefings, 鈥淭hey had the opportunity to witness her brilliance.鈥�
Nesbitt told WTOP that having been in the role of director for five years when the pandemic hit helped smooth the District鈥檚 response: 鈥淲e had already built a relationship with both trust and support, which I think was extremely important. By the time that we needed to appear before the public on a daily basis, we had a way of respecting each other’s views and perspectives.鈥�
That led to the kind of 鈥渃ollaborative and very respectful relationship with each other, during some of the most difficult and tough times for the city,鈥� Nesbitt said.
Before the morning public briefings, there were internal briefings, and the time it takes to prepare for those: 鈥淚’m a morning person,鈥� Nesbitt said, 鈥渂ut that took being a morning person to a slightly different level.鈥�
Bowser said that one of her criteria for the director鈥檚 job was the ability to be the public face of the department, and the briefings only grew Nesbitt鈥檚 profile.
鈥淧ublic health is a science,鈥� Nesbitt said; 鈥減eople train for it.鈥� At the head of a department with master鈥檚 degree- and doctorate-level experts, Nesbitt, though a doctor herself, was charged with 鈥渢aking in all of those inputs and doing my best job to make it plain language and give people those simple instructions they could follow at the various phases of an ever-evolving pandemic of what was OK to do to reduce your risk.鈥�
The data gap
That said, confidence in the health department was shaken in May when it was discovered that DC Health had not been transmitting daily COVID-19 statistics to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for nearly two weeks.
The weekly updates on the District鈥檚 coronavirus dashboard were unaffected, but Nesbitt, who agreed with Bowser鈥檚 characterization of her as a 鈥渄ata nerd,鈥� said the gap halted the flow of information that鈥檚 shared among a lot of area, federal and nationwide partners, as well as 鈥渃itizen scientists鈥� who were putting data on dashboards for people to make comparisons among jurisdictions.
鈥淏ut it never impacted our ability to be able to care for our residents, or my ability to observe trends, to see whether or not we were going in the right direction here,鈥� Nesbitt said. 鈥淎nd I think that’s, for me, the most important thing for people to be able to understand.鈥�
Vaccinations
The pandemic is far from over, and Nesbitt reinforced the importance of vaccination.
鈥淲e’re in a different phase of the pandemic,鈥� because while the virus seems to be spreading faster, it’s not causing people to be as sick. There are also more tools to combat the virus, such as vaccines and therapeutics. 鈥淲e have so many more tools in our toolkit than we did back in March 2020.鈥�
鈥淲e don’t know how these variants are going to behave,鈥� Nesbitt said, referring especially to the new BA. 5 variant 鈥� 鈥渁nd that’s the tricky part.鈥�
That鈥檚 why the District was 鈥渁lways very aggressive鈥� about vaccination, as each new variation can 鈥渂ecome smarter, and to evade our vaccines.鈥�
Equity
Nesbitt in 2015 launched the Office of Health Equity, and led initiatives to expand health services inside schools, as well as efforts to improve maternal and child health programs.
She said that while her public legacy will likely center on the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of the farewell conversations she鈥檚 had with her staff center on those efforts, as well as school health resources; home visiting programs, racial justice and equity and more: 鈥淏ackyard chickens, bike lanes, goat yoga 鈥� lots of things that I’ll always look back on.鈥�
Nesbitt has a broad background, and she said she鈥檚 looking for an opportunity to use all of it.
鈥淚’m looking forward to exploring opportunities that’ll allow me to look back over my career,鈥� the doctor said, 鈥渂eing a practicing family doc, working in governmental public health, having worked in academics, both teaching health policy and working with medical students and academic environments. And I鈥檓 looking for an opportunity that really lets me bring all of that experience together and working to improve community health.鈥�
She added, 鈥淒C Health will always be home. It鈥檚 been home twice.鈥�
Bowser said she鈥檇 have a choice for interim director in a few weeks.
