New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Dr. Herminia Palacio, a Cuban American public health official, as his new deputy mayor for health and human services.

De Blasio announced Tuesday that Palacio would replace Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, who departed in August, and oversee homelessness, health care and the city's anti-poverty infrastructure.

"Herminia is a born and bred New Yorker, and a tried and true leader," said the mayor in a statement.

Earlier in her career, the 54-year-old Bronx native worked as a top public health official in San Francisco and Harris County, Texas, where she helped over 27,000 refugees fleeing Hurricane Katrina. Most recently, she served as a director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in New Jersey.

However, the mayor noted that her first job was working at a concession stand at the Bronx Zoo. She also watched her mother suffer from a psychiatric breakdown when she as a teenager.

"Dr. Palacio doesn't see anyone as separate or different or 'those people.' She understands first hand the challenges so many New Yorkers face," de Blasio said.

"Her formal education is outstanding, but her informal education - the things she learned growing up in the Bronx - are at least as important," he added.

Dr. Palacio will officially start on Jan. 25, as the de Blasio administration struggles to address the city's growing homelessness crisis. She will also start less than a month after former Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor stepped down in December.

"Homelessness is an issue that plagues not just this city but many cities across the nation. It's an issue that was a longstanding problem before this mayor took office, and unfortunately it will be an issue that is likely not to be completely resolved," Palacio said, according to the New York Daily News.

"We always need to be looking for how we can do things better," she added. "If in fact the evidence reveals that we need to make some mid-course corrections, of course that's part of what we are promising to do."

New York City Council Member Ydanis Rodríguez welcomed Palacio into the de Blasio administration in a statement. He said, "From tackling homelessness in a humane way, to serving New Yorkers struggling with mental health issues, I have confidence that she will hit the ground running here in her home town."

Likewise, Assembly Member Luis Sepúlveda praised the mayor for appointing Palacio for the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services position.

"She brings extraordinary expertise and an unrivaled record of stellar accomplishments, notably in Houston after Hurricane Katrina and also in San Francisco. I am thrilled, frankly, that Herminia is a native Bronxite, and I am certain she will be a great asset to the administration and to our city," he said.