1. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed was born on October 31,1984 and is an American politician, former public health professor, and civil servant who served as the director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services for Wayne County from 2023 to 2025.
Abdul El-Sayed was a candidate in Michigan's 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary election, placing second out of three candidates.
Abdul El-Sayed was formerly an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University.
Abdul El-Sayed is a political contributor at CNN, the author of Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic and Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide, and the host of America Dissected with Dr Abdul El-Sayed, a podcast about politics and public health produced by Crooked Media.
Abdul El-Sayed is a candidate for the 2026 Michigan US Senate seat election.
Abdul El-Sayed was born in the Detroit metropolitan area to parents who emigrated to the United States from Egypt.
Abdul El-Sayed grew up in the Detroit area with his father Mohamed El-Sayed and stepmother Jacqueline El-Sayed, a native of Gratiot County, Michigan.
Abdul El-Sayed's father grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, and emigrated to the United States to study engineering at Wayne State University.
Abdul El-Sayed's mother, Fatten Elkomy, is a nurse practitioner in Missouri.
Abdul El-Sayed attended the University of Michigan, where he majored in biology and political science, and played on the men's club lacrosse team.
Abdul El-Sayed won the William Jennings Bryan Prize for Political Science, graduated with Highest Distinction, and delivered the student commencement speech in front of president Bill Clinton, who delivered the 2007 commencement address.
Abdul El-Sayed was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to attend the University of Michigan Medical School, where he completed his first two years of medical school.
Abdul El-Sayed did not pursue a residency after medical school and is therefore not licensed to practice medicine.
Abdul El-Sayed is the author of over 100 scholarly articles, abstracts, and book chapters on public health policy, social epidemiology, and health disparities.
In 2014 Abdul El-Sayed joined the faculty at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health as assistant professor in the department of epidemiology.
Abdul El-Sayed served as director of Columbia's Systems Science Program and Global Research Analytics for Population Health.
Abdul El-Sayed is the recipient of several research awards, including being named one of the Carnegie Council's Policy Innovators.
Abdul El-Sayed created and taught the Mailman School's first course on systems science and population health.
Abdul El-Sayed co-edited a textbook on the topic with Sandro Galea published in 2017 by Oxford University Press, Systems Science and Population Health.
On his first day on the job Abdul El-Sayed arrived at a small office space in the back of Detroit's parking department overseeing five employees.
Abdul El-Sayed led efforts to test Detroit schools for lead in the wake of Flint's Water crisis, provide free glasses to children in Detroit city schools, and transform the city's troubled Animal Control department.
In 2016 Abdul El-Sayed was named one of Crain's Detroit's "40 under 40", and "Public Official of the Year" by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.
In December 2022, Abdul El-Sayed was named director of Wayne County's Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services, pending approval by the county commission.
On February 9,2017, the Detroit News reported that Abdul El-Sayed would resign as health director to run for governor of Michigan in the 2018 Democratic Party primary.
Abdul El-Sayed officially announced his candidacy on February 25,2017.
Abdul El-Sayed pledged not to accept any campaign donations from corporations, and raised over $5 million from individual donations.
Abdul El-Sayed was endorsed by US Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic congressional nominee and democratic socialist activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and 2017 Women's March organizer Linda Sarsour.
Abdul El-Sayed was endorsed by the organization Justice Democrats and The Nation magazine.
In September 2018, Abdul El-Sayed launched a political action committee, Southpaw MI PAC, to support liberal down-ballot candidates and take positions on ballot initiatives.