Monica Gandhi is an American physician and professor. She teaches medicine at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

(UCSF) and is director of the

UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life ...

Gladstone Center for

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

Research and the medical director of the

San Francisco General Hospital The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I trauma c ...

HIV Clinic, Ward 86. Her research considers

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

prevalence in women, as well as

HIV treatment The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

and prevention. She has been noted as a critic of some aspects of the

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

in the US.

Early life and education

Gandhi was born to

Indian American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the United States, who ar ...

immigrant parents. Her father, Om P. Gandhi, was a professor of Electrical Engineering and former department chair at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. Her father returned to his home country of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to teach physics after he earned his doctoral degree at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in the 1950s. He returned to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1967, with his wife Santosh, who would work as a computer scientist at 3M. Gandhi earned her bachelor's degree in 1991 from the University of Utah. While an undergraduate, she worked in the laboratory of John S. Parkinson, where she studied the

flagellar motor switch In molecular biology, the flagellar motor switch protein (Flig) is one of three proteins in certain bacteria coded for by the gene ''fliG''. The other two proteins are FliN coded for by ''fliN'', and FliM coded for by ''fliM''. The protein comple ...

proteins in ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

''. She earned a medical degree from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

before completing an internship at the

(UCSF), and, after residency, completed a fellowship at the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. She earned a

Master's in Public Health The Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) are interdisciplinary profes ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 2001, with a focus on epidemiology and

biostatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) is a branch of statistics that applies statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experimen ...

. She said that she became interested in

care after several of her friends came out as gay during high school and struggled with the associated stigma.

Research and career

HIV

Gandhi has studied the prevalence of

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

in American women and investigated sex differences in the

management of HIV/AIDS The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of mu ...

. She has studied

during pregnancy, with a focus on the safety of

pre-exposure prophylaxis Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), is the use of medications to prevent the spread of disease in people who have not yet been exposed to a disease-causing agent. Vaccination is the most commonly used form of pre-exposure prophylaxis; other forms of ...

(PrEP) in women with reproductive potential. In 2017, she opened a geriatric clinic at the

HIV Clinic, Ward 86.

COVID-19

Gandhi has criticized certain aspects of COVID-19 lockdowns, especially those imposed in the San Francisco Bay area, for being blunt measures lacking in concern for individual behavioral choices, desire to be with people, and their effect on outpatient care and mental health; she has expressed her concerns in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', and other media outlets, but her views go against a majority of domain-experts. She has highlighted how lockdowns, compounded with a fear of contracting COVID-19, have excluded those living with HIV from receiving optimum care, leading to preventable fatalities. Gandhi has made a statement understating the risk of COVID-19 infection to children: in May 2021 she said children and young adults had only 1 in a million chance of dying. At the time 306 children in the USA had already died from COVID; for Gandhi's statement to be accurate there would have to have been at least four times as many infected children in the country than actually existed. Gandhi advocated for a "risk reduction strategy" by conceding that all people cannot inhabit an ideal risk-free environment and hence work to ensure that they wear masks and maintain distancing, and later, get vaccinated. She has been a consistent advocate against closing of schools throughout the pandemic especially with the availability of effective vaccines. In April 2022, she leveraged the same argument to support the end of universal mask mandates, particularly for children. These views have spurred criticism and targeted harassment, much of it on Twitter, both for her pro-mask views, and her views on opening schools and easing lockdowns despite fact based evidence supporting her opinion.

Academic activities

Supported by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

, Gandhi developed a mentoring program that supports early career investigators from diverse backgrounds. She also established a mentoring workshop series for HIV investigators across the United States,

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. From 2008 to 2015, she directed the Communicable Diseases of Global Health Importance program. In 2019, Gandhi delivered the

convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a specia ...

speech at the University of Utah. She has written for ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

''.

Personal life

Gandhi was married to Rakesh Mishra, Professor of Medicine at

, until his death in November 2019. They have two children.

Awards and honours

* 2012 Sarlo Award for Teaching Excellence * 2013

John L. Ziegler Outstanding Mentoring Award * 2017 HIV Medical Association Clinical Educator Award * 2019 UCSF Lifetime Merit Award * 2020

Distinguished Alumni Award * 2020 UCSF Distinction in Mentoring * 2020 co-chair of AIDS 2020 * 2021 -

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City, California, Redwood City is th ...

declared June 15 Monica Gandhi Day

Selected publications

* * *
''Endemic: A Post-Pandemic Playbook''
Monica Gandhi, Mayo Clinic Press (July 11, 2023), ASIN: B0BDRS5K7T

References

External links

Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH
at

Monica Gandhi
at the COVID Collaborative {{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Monica Living people University of California, San Francisco faculty UC Berkeley School of Public Health alumni University of Utah alumni Harvard Medical School alumni 1969 births American health professionals of Indian descent American academics of Indian descent 21st-century American physicians 21st-century American women physicians