Calling it a “badge of honor” to be fired “over standing by data-driven COVID-19 decisions,” Chicago’s former top doctor said she thinks the way in which Mayor Brandon Johnson terminated her will hinder the city’s ability to hire a successor with significant public health expertise.

Dr. Allison Arwady made the comments in an interview with WBEZ after she was fired by Johnson’s team last week in a way she characterized as abrupt, without the chance to say goodbye to her staff or meet with the mayor one-on-one during his first three months in office.

“The way that it was done will make it harder for someone with real public health expertise to want to come into this role,” Arwady said Tuesday. “The public health community is small, and people have some understanding of the good work that has happened here by my team under my leadership.”

Arwady’s name appears just once on Johnson’s public schedule from May 15 --- when he took office --- until Aug. 9. That was for a group meeting on the city’s co-responder program, where Arwady said she and the mayor did not speak one-on-one.

Johnson made it clear as a candidate he would not keep Arwady, speaking decisively on the issue at one of the last public forums of the election, led by WBEZ and the Sun-Times. It is not uncommon for a new administration to clean house and place their own allies in leadership roles.

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And during her tenure leading Chicago through the COVID-19 pandemic, Arwady clashed significantly with the Chicago Teachers Union — which backed Johnson’s campaign and previously employed him — over the return to school. Arwady and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed school buildings were safe for kids, and pushed to open them sooner, while the union representing teachers demanded more safety protocols, such as district-wide COVID-19 testing.

Johnson and Arwady also differ significantly on their approach to delivering mental health care to Chicaogans. Johnson wants to reopen shuttered mental health clinics, which Arwady, under Lightfoot, did not opt to do. Instead, the city funneled money through nonprofit organizations to provide mental healthcare.

Despite the differences, as mayor-elect, Johnson vowed to meet with Arwady once in office.

“In order to unite this city, we’re going to need the expertise from all of the different disciplines,” Johnson said in an interview with WBEZ on April 5, one day after his election victory. “I’m looking forward to sitting down with Dr. Arwady as well. Look, we went through a 100-year pandemic — it’s going to be important to have her expertise.”

Arwady said once Johnson took office, it became clear that meeting would not happen, and that she was discouraged from speaking publicly on matters pertaining to public health, such as traveling smoke from Canadian wildfires that degraded the city’s air quality this summer.

“That was a really unexpected health emergency for the city. And we had sprung into action, had made decisions and worked with partners, had put together things,” Arwady said. “And then it was made clear that, ‘No, we don’t want you to be at a press conference, we don’t want you or anybody on your team to even handle [interview requests].’ ”

Arwady added her department prepared briefs on their ideas for enacting some of Johnson’s main campaign promises, such as reopening mental health clinics. Johnson’s office did not immediately confirm whether he received those briefs.

His office also did not immediately respond to Awardy’s general criticism, but at an unrelated news conference Monday, Johnson said the decision to fire Arwady came after a thorough evaluation.

“We’ve had the opportunity over the course of these last several weeks to fully assess and examine the effectiveness of all of our sister agencies and our departments,” Johnson said. “And I have a quite competent team that has done just that.”

Arwady led the Chicago Department of Public Health for four years and did not say what she’ll do next.

“I’ve had all kinds of people reaching out, and I, at this point, have just said, ‘I’m going to take a break.’ And I’m mostly focused on just, behind the scenes, helping support the Chicago Department of Public Health just get through this transition,” she said.

For now, Arwady said she is picking up more shifts as a volunteer doctor. She’s also volunteering as a docent of the city’s architectural boat tours, where she tries to incorporate factoids about public health.

WBEZ’s Mariah Woelfel covers city government and politics.