Draft:Manisha Juthani

. Manisha Juthani (born 1973) is an Indian American physician who has been Commissioner of Connecticut Department of Public Health since 2021 and is the first Indian American to be appointed to the role. She is on a leave for public service from Yale School of Medicine where she is a professor of medicine. She served as Director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program from 2012 to 2021.

Early years and education
Juthani attended Edgemont High School in Scarsdale, New York where she received the EHS Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1998. She completed her internal medicine residency training at New-York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell where she served as an assistant chief resident. She also was a chief medical resident at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from 2001 to 2002.

Career
Juthani went to the Yale School of Medicine as a post-doctoral fellow in infectious diseases (ID) in 2002. Her research focused on the diagnosis, management, and prevention of infections in older adults, specifically urinary tract infection and pneumonia in nursing home residents. She has over 75 peer-reviewed publications.

Juthani was the principal investigator of an R01-funded research project that resulted in the 2016 JAMA publication entitled, “Effect of Cranberry Capsules on Bacteriuria Plus Pyuria Among Older Women in Nursing Homes: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” This publication received attention in numerous news media outlets including the New York Times. and CNN In December 2016, The New Yorker identified this research as one of the most notable medical findings of 2016, and Juthani was interviewed and featured in a GeriPal podcast.

In her work with pneumonia prevention, Juthani was the first author on the 2015 Clinical Infectious Diseases publication entitled, “A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Multicomponent Intervention Protocol for Pneumonia Prevention Among Nursing Home Elders.”

Juthani's research interests while at Yale were focused on merging best practices of ID and palliative medicine, specifically providing optimal infectious diseases consultation to nursing home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her academic expertise and personal experience with the death of her grandmother in a nursing home during the COVID-19 pandemic were captured in her Perspective piece in The New England Journal of Medicine entitled “Nanima.”

Juthani was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont in July 2021 and assumed her position as Commissioner on September 20, 2021. She serves on several boards allied with the Connecticut Department of Public Health including UConn Health Board of Directors, Access Health CT Board of Directors, and Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) Board of Regents. She also leads and serves on the Governor's Working Group on Women's and Girls-Health and Safety Subcommittee, Commission on Community Gun Violence, (CT Public News) and the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee.

Juthani has worked to manage emerging infectious diseases and revitalize public health by refocusing efforts on the opioid crisi,., lead abatement gun violence, mental health, climate and health, maternal health and drinking water infrastructure improvements. She has committed to growing the public health workforce and partnering with local health departments.

Juthani, along with CT DPH's Deputy Commissioners, Lisa Morrissey and Jody Terranova, took part in filming educational videos on infectious diseases topics, specifically polio, Pertussis, Flu and Measles sponsored by the Connecticut Immunization Coalition and the American Lung Association in March 2023.

Covid-19 pandemic
Juthani was a leader in the COVID response at Yale which led to her appointment as Commissioner of CT DPH in 2021. In the early days of the pandemic, she was a voice to help educate the public in both local and national media outlets. In December 2020, she was outspoken about limiting indoor dining to prevent the spread of COVID-19. She was invited by Lamont to participate in a press conference to share these concerns with the public. She was named Commissioner on July 26, 2021 and started the position on September 20, 2021 and was confirmed on March 2, 2022 and reconfirmed on February 9, 2023.

Juthani has been recognized within Connecticut for her efforts to protect the community from infectious disease threats while still attending to basic and essential public health initiatives.

Juthani is a member of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), September 2021 to Present. ASTHO Secretary-Treasurer Elect, November 2023 a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a Fellow of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

Personal life
Juthani resides in Connecticut and is married with two children.