Published July 26. 2021 7:44PM Jenna Carlesso, The Connecticut Mirror Gov. Ned Lamont on Monday selected Dr. Manisha Juthani, a physician of infectious diseases at the Yale School of Medicine, to be commissioner of the state's public health department, an agency that has been without a permanent leader for more than a year. Juthani replaces Renee Coleman-Mitchell, who was fired in May 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deidre Gifford, commissioner of the state's social services department, has been filling in as head of public health on an interim basis since then. Juthani is expected to begin work with the health department on Sept. 20. Her annual salary will be $210,000.