The sudden departure this week of chief public health officer Derrick Neal has again caused questions about Cambridge’s unusual public health structure. The Cambridge Health Alliance runs the department and the public health commissioner is CHA’s CEO, Assaad Saya.
Patty Nolan, a city councillor and chair of the Health and Environment committee, said neither the city council nor the city manager were involved in the decision to remove Neal. She noted, however, that it’s unusual for someone to leave without notice.
“I don’t know, honestly, if it was a mutual decision or a one-sided decision, to say that this was the time for Chief Neal and Cambridge Health Alliance and the city to part ways,” Nolan said…