Advocate for Joy Honoree – Policymaker
Senator Mann is a practicing Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine physician. She did her residency at the Mayo Clinic program in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, and subsequently received a Masters Degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She made a decision to run for political office in 2018 after spending years working in a healthcare system that prioritizes profits over patient care. She saw firsthand the suffering that patients went through daily when they were not able to get the medications or treatments they needed to stay healthy.
She was elected to the Minnesota House in 2018 and to the Minnesota Senate in 2022.
She has focused her time in the legislature on policy to bring down the cost and increase the accessibility of healthcare, working to make sure children have access to nutrition and education, making sure women have access to medical standards of care, and fighting for social justice.
Sen. Mann is the chief author of Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program, which was passed in 2023 and started operating in January 2026. Since its inception, more than 75,000 Minnesotans have qualified for paid leave, highlighting the need for such a program.
Sen. Mann is a Brazilian immigrant who came to the United States when she was eight years old. She grew up in Minnesota, where she now lives with her husband, Elliot, and their three sons.