Megan Ranney, MD, MPH

(1) The dean of a school of public health at an independent institution of higher education in the state;  

Dr. Megan L. Ranney is an emergency physician, researcher, and leading advocate for innovative, intersectional approaches to public health. She is the Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, the C.-E. A. Winslow Professor of Public Health, and a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Yale University. Dr. Ranney earned her MD from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She holds an MPH from Brown University and a bachelor’s degree in the history of science, graduating summa cum laude from Harvard University. She completed her residency in emergency medicine and a fellowship in injury prevention research at Brown University.

Dr. Ranney’s career has been driven by her front-row seat to preventable public health crises, from her formative years in the Peace Corps to her 20+ years as a practicing emergency medicine physician. Her first-hand experiences have fueled her commitment to high-quality science and making sure the science is used and understood by communities across the globe.

Dean Ranney's dedication to public health is internationally recognized, and her leadership is sought across sectors. She has given dozens of international keynotes and helped shape bipartisan policy and public opinion with multiple Congressional testimonies and provided expertise to the U.S. Surgeon General and the White House across multiple presidential administrations. 

Bruce Liang, MD, FACC

(2) The dean of a school of public health at a public institution of higher education in the state;  

Bruce T. Liang, MD, is an internationally recognized cardiovascular physician-scientist and a national leader in academic medicine. He is the longtime dean of UConn School of Medicine and the Ray Neag Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine. During the pandemic, he collaborated with a number of scientists to study the epidemiology of COVID-19 in healthcare workers and their antibody responses to the virus. Prior to joining UConn Health in 2002, for 13 years he served the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as associate professor of medicine and pharmacology. Dr. Liang received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard in biochemistry and molecular biology and his medical degree from Harvard Medical College. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and cardiology fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. 

Barbara Ziogas, MD

(3) A physician specializing in primary care who (A) has not less than ten years of clinical practice experience, and (B) is a professor at a medical school in the state;  

Barbara Ziogas grew up in Connecticut, and has dedicated her career to pediatrics, education, and child advocacy. After completing her medical training at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, she practiced in both academic and private settings, valuing her affiliations with UConn and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. A former teacher, she embraced opportunities to educate medical students and residents while building her clinical practice.

In 2002, Dr. Ziogas founded Farmington Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, where she continues to focus on providing personalized, high-quality care for children and families. She has remained deeply engaged in teaching, mentorship, and advocacy throughout her career, serving on numerous committees and boards. Most recently, she served as President of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, where she continues to play an active leadership role.

Her commitment to children extends beyond Connecticut. Through her long-standing relationship with Team Tobati, she has participated in 11 medical mission trips to Paraguay, fostering lasting ties with the community there. Dr. Ziogas brings to this committee her extensive clinical experience, leadership in pediatrics, and a lifelong commitment to improving the health and well-being of children locally, nationally, and internationally. 

Albert Shaw, MD, PhD

(4) An infectious disease specialist who (A) has not less than ten years of clinical practice experience, and (B) is a professor at an institution of higher education in the state;  

Dr. Shaw is Professor of Medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases at the Yale School of Medicine. He is an infectious diseases physician whose laboratory research seeks to understand why older adults have worsened immune system responses to vaccination and increased morbidity and mortality to infectious diseases. His work focuses on mechanisms underlying the effects of age on chronic inflammation, circadian regulation of the immune response, and altered immunologic and gene expression responses to vaccines such as the influenza vaccine. Dr. Shaw was a member of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), chair of the CDC Adult RSV Vaccine Working Group, and member of the Influenza Vaccine Workgroup from 2024-2025. 

Thomas Murray, MD, PhD

(5) A pediatrician who (A) has not less than ten years of clinical practice experience and expertise in children's health and vaccinations, and (B) is a professor at an institution of higher education in the state; 

Dr. Thomas S. Murray is a Professor at the Yale School of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics, section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health. He is the Associate Vice Chair for Quality & Safety for the Department of Pediatrics and the Associate Medical Director for Infection Prevention at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital and the Medical Director of the Winchester Chest Pediatric Tuberculosis Clinic. He received his MD and PhD from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He is board certified in general pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases and fellowship trained in medical microbiology. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics. Over the last several years he has worked with community pediatric providers to keep them informed regarding current events in pediatric infectious diseases through a regularly scheduled virtual seminar series. 

Magna Dias, MD

(6) Commissioner Appointment 

Magna Dias is the Chair of Pediatrics at Bridgeport Hospital and the Greater Bridgeport Regional Site Director for Pediatric Inpatient and Outpatient Services at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. In this role, she is working to strengthen the care signature of Yale Children’s across the network. Prior to this role, she worked for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for 20 years in various settings including as medical director at several community pediatric hospitalist programs. She also founded CHOP’s pediatric urgent care network. She is the immediate past president of the Society for Pediatric Urgent Care. She has been a pediatric hospitalist for 26 years.

Outside the hospital, Magna enjoys spending time with her 2 young adult children and her husband who is also a pediatrician. As a family, they trained in Tang Soo Do and are all black belts. She also enjoys cooking, traveling, and reading. 

Jennifer Girotto, Pharm.D., BCPPS, BCIDP

(7) Commissioner Appointment

Dr. Jennifer Girotto earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut and completed an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists pediatric specialty pharmacy residency at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She is a dually board-certified in infectious diseases and pediatric pharmacy with more than 20 years of clinical practice experience. Currently, she serves as Assistant Department Head and Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Connecticut, where her teaching focuses on immunizations and pediatric infectious diseases. Dr. Girotto is an active researcher and has authored numerous publications and delivered many national and international presentations in her areas of expertise. 

Maria Lopez, MD, FAAP

(8) Commissioner Appointment

Dr. Lopez grew up in Colombia and earned her medical degree from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana School of Medicine in Medellin, Colombia. During the years of formation in the medical school, she rotated through multiple city and rural hospitals that exposed her to many medical problems that affect low income populations. She practiced medicine in rural areas of Colombia and was in charge of programs such as vaccination, STI prevention and birth control.

She trained in pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine through Montefiore Medical Center in New York. She also trained in anesthesiology at St. Elizabeth Hospital - Tufts University in Boston. Dr. Lopez is board certified in pediatrics, has been practicing for 30 years, with expertise in child development, infectious diseases, travel medicine, dermatology, and behavioral management. She is a Fellow and active member of the administration chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Lopez enjoys working with children and their families in promoting a healthy lifestyle. She loves spending time with her family and friends, exercising, traveling, and gardening. 

Ian Michelow, MD, MMed, FCPaed, DTM&H, FPIDS

(9) Commissioner Appointment 

Dr. Michelow is Professor of Pediatrics at the UConn School of Medicine and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Connecticut Children’s. He consults in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, teaches under- and postgraduates, and conducts translational research. He received his MD and training in Pediatrics from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He obtained a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine before completing his fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX. He was on faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2003-2010 where he conducted NIH-funded research on immune-mediated therapies for Ebola virus. From 2011- 2022 he conducted NIH-funded basic science research on malaria pathogenesis at Brown University, and mentored students and physicians on NIH-funded research that he led on emerging infectious diseases. Since 2022, Dr. Michelow has been at CT Children's  studying the molecular pathogenesis of RSV, as well as a variety of other childhood infections. He is the Medical Director of the Pediatric and Youth HIV Program at CT Children’s and UConn Health. He has published more than 90 original research papers and book chapters. Dr. Michelow’s career objective is to discover novel insights in the causation of infectious diseases which will lead to new preventive and therapeutic interventions in children, while mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists. 

Katherine Noble, MD, FAAP

(10) Commissioner Appointment 

Katherine Noble (“Dr. Katy”) is a board-certified general pediatrician who has lived and worked in Lower Fairfield County for over 21 years. She is the founder and managing partner of an independent private practice called Sound Beach Pediatrics, which now has a team of seven pediatricians serving 4,500+ patients. In the last year, Sound Beach Pediatrics administered 7,000+ vaccines.

Dr. Katy was born and raised in Northern California. She received her BA in Integrative Biology from the University of California Berkeley, and her MD at the University of California San Francisco. She completed her pediatric residency training at Boston Children’s Hospital, and went on to live in Tokyo, Japan (2001-2003), where she engaged in clinical work and medical education research.

Dr. Katy has promoted health education and wellness for many years through public speaking and as a contributing author for Serendipity Magazine. She was appointed as the Medical Advisor for the Greenwich Public School System in February 2020 and was an outspoken advocate for keeping children in school, sports and activities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Katy lives in Old Greenwich with her husband and has three children. She enjoys physical fitness, many sports, all things outdoors, music and travel.

Aileen Pangilinan, MD, CMD

(11) Commissioner Appointment 

Aileen Pangilinan is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Clerkship Director for Geriatrics at the University of  Connecticut School of Medicine. She holds a clinical position at the Uconn Center on Aging providing outpatient services including primary care and memory consultation to patients.  With 10 years of experience in geriatrics, Dr. Pangilinan has developed a profound understanding of caring for the aging population. She is board-certified in both Internal and Geriatric Medicine, she also holds a Certificate of Medical Directorship.

Her work focuses on vaccine optimization, preventive care, and geriatric medical education. She leads clinical initiatives to improve vaccine uptake by streamlining workflows, identifying barriers, and enhancing patient education. Dr. Pangilinan is also engaged in NIH-funded research related to influenza vaccination in older adults. She has authored peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters on vaccine optimization and age-related disease prevention and contributes to national educational resources such as the American Geriatrics Society’s GRS12 Teaching Slides. She is also actively involved in mentoring medical students and fellows in geriatrics. Her media contributions reflect her commitment to public education on healthy aging and the importance of preventive care in later life.  

Jason Schwartz, PhD

(12) Commissioner Appointment 

Jason L. Schwartz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health. His research examines vaccines and vaccination policy, decision-making in medical regulation and public health policy, and the structure and function of scientific expert advice to government. The overall focus of his work is on the ways in which evidence is interpreted, evaluated, and translated into regulation and policy in medicine and public health.

Schwartz’s publications have appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), The American Journal of Public Health, BMJ, The Lancet, Health Affairs, and elsewhere. He regularly teaches and lectures on vaccination issues, health policy and the U.S. health care system, pharmaceuticals and the FDA, science advice to government, and related topics. His research, analysis, and perspectives have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NPR, BBC, and Time.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Schwartz was a member of Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group and co-chair of its Science Subcommittee. He also advised schools and community organizations regarding their COVID-19 policies and protocols, particularly with respect to vaccines. Schwartz is a graduate of Princeton University (AB) and the University of Pennsylvania (PhD, MBE). 

Marietta Vazquez, MD, FAAP

(13) Commissioner Appointment

Dr. Marietta Vázquez is Professor of Pediatrics the Yale School of Medicine, Inaugural Vice Chair of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, and Director of the Yale-Children’s Hospital Hispanic Clinic. She is the Inaugural Associate Dean of Medical Student Diversity and the first Latina to be name associate Dean at Yale School of Medicine. She studies the clinical epidemiology of infectious diseases in children, focusing on studies that assess the efficacy of vaccines as they are used in every-day clinical practice, how age and other factors such as gender, race and/or ethnicity influence the effectiveness of a vaccine and on the assessment of risk factors for the diseases that each vaccine prevents. Her epidemiological studies have had direct impact on clinical practice. Her studies of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine helped shape recommendations during vaccine shortages. Dr. Vázquez is the first Latina to be appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to be a voting member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Dr. Vázquez directed the Yale Pediatrics Global Health track (a training track for pediatrics residents and fellows) and conducts collaborative studies internationally and has developed and directs collaborative projects with the Dominican Republic for the past 15 years. She is interested in culturally relevant health services interventions for children and families from racial/ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds. 

Ulysses Wu, MD

(14) Commissioner Appointment 

Dr. Ulysses Wu is the System Chief of Infectious Disease and Chief Epidemiologist for Hartford Healthcare. He attended Carnegie Mellon University and graduated with a Double Major in Industrial Management and Economics as well as a Minor in Music. He worked in corporate finance working with mergers and acquisitions before attending medical school at Thomas Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia, PA. His subsequent training and Chief Residency were in Delaware and Chicago where he also completed his Infectious Disease Fellowship. Upon completion, he joined the Infectious Disease faculty at Louisiana State University where he also served as the Fellowship Director for Infectious Diseases as well as the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine residency. He has resided in Connecticut for the past 15 years, serving various roles with various organizations and as teaching faculty before joining Hartford Healthcare just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Dr. Wu is an Associate Professor at both the University of Connecticut and the Frank H. Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. In addition to his duties with Infectious Diseases and Infection Prevention, he also provides public education through various media sources and also assists in the writing of health and nutrition articles for the Hartford Healthcare Health News Hub.