37 Facts About Mandy Cohen

Mandy Krauthamer Cohen was born on September 17,1978 and is an American internist, public health official, and healthcare executive who served as the 20th director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2023 to 2025.

Mandy Cohen was previously the executive vice president at Aledade and chief executive officer of Aledade Care Solution, a healthcare company.

Mandy Cohen served as the Deputy Director of Comprehensive Women's Health Services at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and is a founding member and former executive director of Doctors for America.

Mandy Cohen was listed as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare in 2019.

Mandy Cohen was born to Marshall and Susan Krauthamer, has two younger siblings, and is Jewish.

Mandy Cohen grew up on the south shore of Long Island in the Baldwin hamlet in Hempstead, New York.

Mandy Cohen's mother worked as a hospital nurse practitioner in emergency medicine, and inspired her to pursue a medical career.

Mandy Cohen's father was a junior high guidance counselor in the New York City school system.

Mandy Cohen attended Plaza Elementary School, graduated with high honors from Baldwin Senior High School, and was awarded a Baldwin Foundation for Education scholarship in 1996.

Mandy Cohen earned a bachelor's degree in policy analysis and management from Cornell University in 2000.

Mandy Cohen trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Mandy Cohen later served as Co-Director for the Health Policy Elective at Massachusetts General Hospital, and was a northeast representative for the American College of Physicians' National Council of Associates.

Mandy Cohen served as the organization's policy director and later as Executive Director.

Mandy Cohen was later appointed as the chief operating officer and chief of staff services at the agency, and from 2014 to 2015 served as acting director of the agency's Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.

In 2014, while eight months pregnant, Mandy Cohen advocated for maternity coverage in the Affordable Care Act before the United States Congress.

Mandy Cohen was named in the 2024 list of Time 100 Health's most influential people.

In January 2017 Mandy Cohen was appointed health secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, an organization with 17,000 employees and an annual budget of $20 billion, by Governor Roy Cooper.

In 2020, Mandy Cohen was mentioned as a potential pick for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services under President-elect Joe Biden.

Mandy Cohen navigated the political divide over Medicaid in North Carolina, with Democratic governor Cooper wanting to expand it under the Affordable Care Act and the Republican-majority North Carolina General Assembly opposing such measures.

Mandy Cohen helped lead North Carolina through a transition from fee-for-service Medicaid to a model contracted by the state with private insurance companies that are paid pre-determined rates to provide health services.

Mandy Cohen spearheaded Healthy Opportunities, an initiative testing the impact of providing high-need Medicaid enrollees with housing, food, transportation, and interpersonal safety interventions with the goal of improving public health and reducing costs.

Mandy Cohen implemented the Opioid Action Plan, which uses $45.5 million in grant funding to fight opioid misuse in the state.

Mandy Cohen's plan led to a decline in overdose deaths in North Carolina for the first time in over a decade.

Mandy Cohen led the Early Childhood Action Plan, focusing on improving health conditions of children from birth to age eight.

Mandy Cohen was honored with the "Top 50 in Digital Health" award by Rock Health.

Governor Cooper announced on November 30,2021, that Mandy Cohen would leave office on January 1,2022.

Mandy Cohen stressed the need for North Carolinians to wear face masks, practice social distancing, and wash their hands in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Mandy Cohen met with US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to discuss the need for more chemical reagents.

On June 30,2020, Mandy Cohen announced that her department would partner with Omnicare, a company owned by CVS Health, to administer tests to 36,000 nursing home residents and 25,000 nursing home employees in over 400 locations.

Mandy Cohen held a media briefing on July 16,2020, to address virus testing in North Carolina, after the state reached 96,426 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,588 deaths related to the virus.

Mandy Cohen warned of the state possibly returning to a stay-at-home order.

Mandy Cohen had linked North Carolina's rise in cases with the reopening of the state.

Mandy Cohen indicated that there would be a test surge in areas with troubling metrics, including the counties of Alamance, Durham, Duplin, Forsyth, Lee, Johnston, Mecklenburg, and Wake.

In January 2022, Mandy Cohen became the chief executive officer of Aledade Care Solutions, a primary care enablement company founded by Farzad Mostashari, the former national coordinator for health information technology at the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Mandy Cohen is married to Samuel Mandy Cohen, a health care regulatory attorney who grew up in Philadelphia.

Mandy Cohen is a member of Conservative Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh.

Mandy Cohen was honored by the Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary's Lions of Judah in 2018 for her contributions to the community.