Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1985. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - December 5, 1985
David Bird
Dr. Sencer said he was leaving "strictly at my own volition" to work overseas. Mr. Koch said that Dr. Sencer had "performed brilliantly" and that he was sorry to see him go.
According to mayoral aides, it was Dr. Sencer's choice to resign, and the Mayor, in part because the job is a difficult one to fill, did not want him to leave. However, the Commissioner's tenure has not been without controversy.
Disputes on AIDS Strategy
He had been involved recently in disputes with state health authorities and law enforcement officials on strategies to halt the apread of the disease AIDS.
He had disagreed with the State Health Commissioner, Dr. David Axelrod, on the closing of homosexual bathhouses to control the disease.
Dr. Sencer said that instead of controlling AIDS, closing the bathhouses could actually contribute to spreading the disease because it would make it harder to reach homosexuals and educate them on how to engage in safer sexual practices.
At a City Hall news conference yesterday at which he praised Dr. Sencer, Mayor Koch said there had been disagreements between him and the Health Commissioner. But the Mayor said he appreciated Dr. Sencer's speaking his mind.
On the closing of bathhouses, the Mayor said he weighed the advice of both Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Sencer and decided on what he said was the more "conservative" advice of the State Health Commissioner.
Dr. Sencer also said the greatest danger of spreading AIDS came from drug addicts sharing needles to inject heroin. He advocated supplying clean needles free to addicts.
The suggestion drew sharp responses from law enforcement authorities, who said it would amount to condoning drug addiction. Opponents also said that even if the clean needles were supplied addicts would not use them because there was a tradition of passing the needle from one person to another in the so-called "shooting galleries" where addicts gathered to inject heroin.
But the Mayor denied that the controversy over AIDS strategies had anything to do with Dr. Sencer's departure.
Dr. Sencer had written to the Mayor on Nov. 1 saying he wanted to leave to take up his work in Oman. The Mayor said he had asked Dr. Sencer to delay announcing his resignation until this month to provide time to begin the process of finding a successor.
Appointed in '81
A former director of the Federal Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Sencer was appointed to his current post in 1981 at a time when both he and the Mayor agreed that the city's Health Department had slipped badly in recent years from its position as the country's leading local health agency.
In a letter to Dr. Sencer the Mayor said that "I am truly saddened by your leaving."
Dr. Sencer, who is 61 years old, said he would be working on developing a five-year plan to improve child health in Oman.
Dr. Sencer said he would stay on until Jan. 3 and would help the Mayor in the search for a new commissioner.
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