Bio

Dr. Mandy Cohen is an internal medicine physician and a public health expert who recently stepped down as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services after 5 years of service. Dr. Cohen has been lauded for her outstanding leadership during the COVID crisis, leading both the state’s operational response effort focusing on equity, data accountability, and transparent communication. Dr. Cohen and her team also successfully launched Medicaid managed care under her tenure with a focus on equity and whole person health, investing in advanced medical homes, integration of physical and mental health, and focusing on the drivers of health. Dr. Cohen is a strong advocate for whole person care and addressing the non-medical drivers of health. Under Secretary Cohen’s leadership, North Carolina implemented the first-in-the-nation statewide coordinated care network, NCCARE360, to electronically connect those with identified needs to community resources. This private-public partnership has been a key feature of NC’s COVID response and backbone to the innovative Health Opportunities pilot authorized under North Carolina’s 1115 Medicaid waiver. Prior to being appointed Secretary, she was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She brings a deep understanding of health care to the state and has been responsible for implementing policies for Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace. In February of 2019, Modern Healthcare named Secretary Cohen one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare. In September of 2020, Secretary Cohen was awarded the Leadership in Public Health Practice Award from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. For her outstanding leadership through the COVID pandemic, Dr. Cohen was named Tar Heel of the Year for 2020. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. A graduate of Cornell University, she received her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine and a Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She trained in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Secretary Cohen is married to Sam Cohen, Senior Vice President for Health Policy at Curi. They have two daughters, ages 7 and 10.