Ro Khanna
Mentioned in PNS12
Ami Bera
Mentioned in PNS12
Dr. Vivek Murthy
Dr. Vivek Murthy is an American physician who became the first person of Indian origin to serve as U.S. Surgeon General. Serving two nonconsecutive terms, he led national public health responses to Ebola, Zika, and the COVID-19 pandemic while elevating the office as a leading voice on mental health, addiction, firearm violence, and loneliness. A […]
Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan
Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan is a U.S. Army officer whose successful request for a religious accommodation allowed him to serve while maintaining his Sikh articles of faith. As one of the first observant Sikh officers granted such a waiver in decades, his case helped establish the precedent for the Army’s permanent policy on religious accommodations. […]
Lt. Cmdr. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi
Lt. Cmdr. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi is a Sikh physician and U.S. Army officer whose successful campaign for a religious accommodation transformed military policy. In 2009, he became one of the first Sikh Americans in decades permitted to serve while wearing a turban and maintaining unshorn hair and beard. His advocacy helped pave the way for […]
Capt. Pratima Dharm
Capt. Pratima Dharm is a U.S. Army chaplain who became the first Hindu chaplain to serve in the U.S. military. Commissioned in 2011, she provided spiritual care and pastoral support to soldiers of all faiths, including during a deployment to Iraq. Her appointment expanded the religious diversity of the Armed Forces and ensured formal Hindu […]
Balan Ayyar
Balan R. Ayyar is a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general and the first Indian American to attain general officer rank in the U.S. Armed Forces. During a distinguished military career spanning more than three decades, he commanded Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 in Kabul, served as Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, […]
Aruna Miller
Aruna Miller is an American politician who became Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor in 2023, the first South Asian woman elected to statewide executive office in the United States. An engineer by training, she previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates, where she focused on transportation, infrastructure, and economic development. Her election marked another milestone in […]
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is an American politician who became the first Indian American elected to the U.S. Senate from California in 2016. She previously served as California’s Attorney General and District Attorney of San Francisco. In 2021, she became the first woman, first Black American, and first person of South Asian descent to serve as Vice […]
Nikki Haley
Mentioned in PNS07