HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Dr. Manisha Juthani, an infectious diseases specialist at Yale School of Medicine, was nominated by Connecticut's governor on Monday to serve as the next commissioner of the Department of Public Health. Juthani will succeed Dr. Deidre Gifford, the state social services commissioner who has also been leading the health agency since the departure of Renee Coleman-Mitchell in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. Juthani was among the doctors who signed a letter in November to Gov. Ned Lamont urging him to prohibit indoor dining, close gyms and ban nonessential social gatherings to slow the spread of the virus.