Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman led the county through the Covid-19 pandemic, a spike in opioid overdose deaths. His last day is March 21. Dr. "K" participated in County Executive Steuart Pittman's weekly Zoom meetings with news media members and provided an expert opinion about controversial closure mandates during the Covid and, mandatory masking in schools inside common places, and the need to vaccinate against the virus. He led an army of nurses, including school nurses who could not work in closed public schools, to conduct extensive contact tracing of the virus. He oversaw an army of other health professionals who administered tests and shots in the arm during the early days of Covid. 

Before working in Anne Arundel, Dr. Kalyanaraman was chief medical officer of Health Care for the Homeless based in Baltimore. Before Dr. K took the job, the county had searched for a full-time health officer for two years.