An orthopedic trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Manish “Manny” Sethi’ has never viewed healthcare as confined to hospital walls. As founder and president of Healthy Tennessee, a nonprofit he established with his wife Maya, he has turned medical expertise into a community movement tackling Tennessee’s persistent public health challenges through prevention, education, and grassroots engagement. His path reflects a physician’s instinct to heal coupled with a reformer’s drive to change systems from within.
Roots of purpose
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Indian immigrant physicians, Sethi grew up in Hillsboro, Tennessee, surrounded by the values of service and self-reliance. Watching his parents care for patients in rural clinics gave him early insight into the inequities in American healthcare. Those experiences, he often notes, shaped both his work ethic and his empathy.
After earning a magna cum laude degree in neuroscience from Brown University, Sethi spent a year in Tunisia as a Fulbright Scholar, working with children affected by muscular dystrophy. The experience broadened his sense of purpose, reinforcing that medicine could be both a science and a vehicle for social good.
Building healthier communities
Returning to Tennessee after completing his Harvard Medical School training and orthopedic residency, Sethi found himself confronting the stark realities of his home state’s health crisis. Tennessee ranked among the nation’s worst for chronic illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. Rather than watch from the sidelines, Sethi and his wife founded Healthy Tennessee in 2011, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit designed to bring preventive care to the doorstep of those who need it most.
Healthy Tennessee organizes free health screenings, fitness and nutrition workshops, and community training sessions across the state. Its mobile clinics serve insured, uninsured, and TennCare patients alike, reflecting Sethi’s belief that access should never be a barrier to care. The organization also broadened its focus to address the opioid epidemic, one of Tennessee’s most pressing public health battles.
In recognition of his leadership, Sethi received honors from the American Medical Association, and HealthLeaders Magazine named him among its “Top 20 Leaders in Medicine.” Under his guidance, Healthy Tennessee has become a rallying point for collaboration among doctors, policymakers, and citizens.
Championing health policy
Sethi’s engagement doesn’t stop at the community level. As Director of the Vanderbilt Orthopedic Institute Center for Health Policy, he has advanced physician advocacy and research on pressing health policy issues. His co-authored book, An Introduction to Health Policy written with former Senator Bill Frist showcases his commitment to bridging clinical insight with public policy.
He has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, advised the White House on healthcare challenges, and helped implement school-based conflict resolution programs through his center. His approach combines evidence-based medicine with an understanding that sustainable change requires education, dialogue, and civic involvement.
A life of service
From rural Tennessee to national recognition, Dr. Manny Sethi has built a career defined by purpose. His journey illustrates how a physician’s responsibility can extend beyond the operating room into classrooms, communities, and corridors of power. Through Healthy Tennessee, he continues to turn compassion into public action, proving that healing society is as vital as healing patients.
