Massachusetts Public Health Association

Damōn Chaplin, MBA

President

Public Health Director
City of New Bedford

Damōn Chaplin  serves as the Director of the New Bedford Health Department. In this role, he manages a multi-discipline staff, operating multiple public health divisions, each responsible for enforcing federal, state, and local ordinances and codes for approximately 100,000 residents living in private and public housing units and patronizing local businesses and restaurants.  He currently co-chairs the Greater New Bedford Opioid Task Force and is a member of the Massachusetts Health Equity Compact (HEC), which brings together over 30 Black and Latinx leaders across a diverse set of Massachusetts health organizations to leverage their collective voices to advocate for health equity and health care reform. Mr. Chaplin has over 25 years of experience in health and human services related work and has spearheaded the development of the Massachusetts Large Cities Health Coalition, consisting of the state’s 14 largest cities (cities with populations of 70, 000 or greater). He is also a member of the Executive Committee for the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). At each stage of his career, he has found himself gravitating towards leadership opportunities where he could share his public health story with people and connect them to resources and opportunities that would ensure each person an equal opportunity to their full measure of life.