Former Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has been appointed as the Director of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Sudan, who is currently a member of the UPSC, will assume her new role on August 1. She will lead the Commission until her retirement in April 2025, when she turns 65.

Preeti Sudan’s appointment was confirmed in a letter to UPSC Secretary Shashi Ranjan Kumar by Additional Secretary Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, following President Droupadi Murmu‘s approval.

Her appointment comes at a time when the UPSC is grappling with an ongoing controversy involving probationary IAS officer Pooja Khedkar, who has been accused of submitting fake certificates and lying about physical and mental disabilities for UPSC selection.

Sudan succeeds Manoj Soni, who resigned earlier this month for “personal reasons,” five years before the scheduled end of his tenure in 2029. Soni had been with the UPSC since 2017, first as a member and then as Chairperson from May 16, 2023.

Preeti Sudan, an IAS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre of the 1983 batch, brings nearly 37 years of experience in various aspects of government administration. She holds degrees in Economics and Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics and has received training in public finance management in Washington.

Sudan served as the Union Health Secretary for three years until July 2020, playing a pivotal role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before this, she was the Secretary of the Department of Food and Public Distribution. She has also held positions in the Women and Child Development Ministry, the Defence Ministry, and has managed portfolios in finance and planning, disaster management, tourism, and agriculture.

Sudan has also worked as a consultant with the World Bank. She has chaired COP-8 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, served as Vice Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, chaired the Global Digital Health Partnership, and was a member of WHO’s Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

Her contributions to national-level programs include the initiation of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Ayushman Bharat, ban on e-cigarettes, and the legislation on the National Medical Commission.