Former Mass. health commissioner nominated to federal post

By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

President Obama this evening nominated Dr. Howard Koh, an associate dean at the Harvard School of Public Health and former Massachusetts public health commissioner, to a top health position in his administration.

As an assistant secretary for health, Koh would be responsible for establishing the nation's public health agenda if confirmed by the Senate.

He is the second member of his family to be nominated to a top Obama administration post this week: On Monday, his brother, Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh, was picked to be the State Department's legal adviser, a post that also requires Senate approval.

Howard Koh served as the public health commissioner in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2003, first being appointed by Governor William Weld and continuing in the office through the Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift administrations before resigning in the early days of the Mitt Romney administration.

As public health commissioner, Koh spread a gospel of prevention across the state that was both personal and passionate. He'd established his bona fides in the world of disease prevention as a young physician at the hospital that was the forerunner of Boston Medical Center. From that base, he helped direct the successful 1992 campaign to raise the state tobacco tax, with the money spent on launching Massachusetts' widely emulated tobacco control program.

In the waning days of his tenure as public health commissioner, swooning budget conditions forced Koh to largely dismantle the Tobacco Control Program.

After leaving the state post, Koh joined the Harvard School of Public Health as an associate dean, with his work focusing on cancer prevention, health disparities, tobacco control, and emergency preparations. He is one of the few doctors with certifications from four specialty boards of medicine: internal medicine, hematology, medical oncology, and dermatology.