Manish R. Mohanka, MD, MPH

Description

Manish Mohanka, MD, MPH, is the associate medical director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease and Transplantation at the Northwell Transplant Institute.As a child, Dr. Mohanka dreamed of becoming an aerospace engineer and flying off into space. He liked studying math, physics and chemistry just as much as biology. He enjoyed applying principles of physics, chemistry and math such as motion, fluid dynamics and energy to the way the human body works. Realizing that his purpose was to use his diverse interests to help people, he decided to pursue medical school.After earning his medical degree at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur in India, he got a master's degree in public health with an epidemiology major at the University of Washington in Seattle. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency at the Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, followed by a fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland. He developed a keen interest in the field of lung transplantation during fellowship training. Dr. Mohanka joined the lung transplant team at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 2012 and helped direct the transplant clinics and collaborate building the rehabilitation facilities for the program.In 2024, he joined the lung transplant team at the Northwell Transplant Institute, the only lung program on Long Island. His vision is to grow the program to provide lung transplant services locally to patients in the vast Northwell network and beyond.There's a growing need for lung transplants here, because patients with advanced lung diseases like COPD, interstitial lung diseases, pulmonary hypertension and cystic fibrosis need it, he says. Also, lung transplants represent an evolving field in terms of research, and this was a chance to do more investigation that could result in better treatment plans and better management of complications. The combination of excellent clinical care and meaningful research really set Northwell apart. Another aspect of transplant care at Northwell is patient support, Dr. Mohanka adds. He likes to devote time to learning about each patient at every level and address their individual needs. When a patient tells me that they appreciate how much time I take to explain everything, and that I talk in a language they can understand, that means everything to me, he says. I care about every single patient, and I want them to feel that way during every conversation.