She was then appointed to public health positions with Columbia University and the JPB Foundation, and in 2022 became president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit United Hospital Fund.
[2] Barbot was born at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan in New York City, and refers to herself as a "Nuyorican," a term of pride used by New Yorkers who have deep Puerto Rican roots.
It was during this early phase in her career as a community pediatrician that Barbot became more attuned to the ways in which policy at the federal and local level can dramatically affect the lives of everyday Americans.
[8] Barbot's leadership was instrumental in Baltimore City being the first jurisdiction in the country to use the zoning code to amortize the number of alcohol outlets in residential communities as a remedy for oversaturation.
[12] Barbot was the Commissioner of Health of the City of New York, a position she was appointed to in December 2018 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, succeeding Mary T.
In a press conference that day, Barbot stated that 21 people were hospitalized and five were admitted to an intensive care unit out of the 285 reported cases.
[25] In a BBC documentary released in March 2021, Barbot stated that her early warnings to de Blasio were largely ignored, and that New York City's delayed decisions to close schools and mandate lockdowns "cost thousands of lives.