Yet another key figure from the London Breed administration will not be sticking around for the Daniel Lurie administration, as SF Department of Public Health director Dr. Grant Colfax announced his resignation Thursday morning.Of all the major City Hall appointments London Breed made during her tenure as mayor, perhaps the most respected, and most scandal-free, was Dr. Grant Colfax as director of the SF Department of Public Health (DPH). Colfax came in as a longtime HIV researcher with the DPH, who left for an advisory role in the Obama administration, and returned to run the SF DPH in 2019 just before COVID hit. Colfax had a major hand in the policies and procedures that led to SF having the lowest COVID death rate of any major US city, thanks to his emphasis on isolation, masking, and vaccination.But the Breed-appointed Colfax is not sticking around for Daniel Lurie’s watch. The Examiner reports that Colfax is resigning from his post, after nearly six years as SF DPH director. “I have had the privilege to serve the people of San Francisco, working to protect and promote the health of all San Franciscans,” Colfax said in a Thursday morning announcement.  “From Covid-19 to Mpox, the fentanyl crisis, to hiring a record number of nurses and passing two infrastructure bonds, we have built a stronger department. We have accomplished much in the past six years, and there is no doubt that the dedicated, hard working and compassionate staff at DPH will continue to deliver for San Francisco.”While Colfax certainty earned his laurels on COVID response, the record number of fentanyl overdoses during his tenure brought plenty of hand-wringing. It’s debatable whether a DPH director has a hand in the amount of fentanyl coming into the city, which seems more of a law enforcement issue, and the fentanyl crisis is hardly unique to San Francisco. But Colfax had his critics for the DPH's “harm reduction” policies, which many found too permissive for the magnitude of the fentanyl scourge. Still, we had a clearer view of how the fentanyl crisis was unfolding thanks to the advanced overdose tracking tools the DPH introduced under Colfax. And his role in saving Laguna Honda hospital certainly deserves acknowledgement. “As Director of Health, Dr. Colfax contributed to saving lives of San Franciscans during one of our city's most challenging times. His dedication and work to the health and wellbeing of our city’s communities is remarkable,” Mayor Lurie said in the official announcement. “His leadership has enabled our recovery, and I thank him for his service to our city.”Colfax’s final day on the job will be February 7, and current DPH deputy director Dr. Naveena Bobba will then serve as an interim director. Lurie will choose a new permanent director, though from candidates put forth by the SF Public Health Commission. This is the second high-level director to step down since the Lurie transition, after SFMTA director Jeffrey Tumlin resigned effective December 31.Related: SF's Pandemic Response Praised In New Study Showing Low Number of COVID Deaths [SFist]Image: @GColfax via Twitter