Vivek Murthy

About this event

Vivek Murthy is a physician, best-selling author and the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States who has deepened our understanding of how to improve our health. He has advised presidents, governors, legislators, corporate leaders, educators and healthcare organizations on a wide range of public health issues. Murthy has been recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on health, and his landmark initiatives as Surgeon General have spurred public dialogue and new policy and program initiatives around the world, particularly with regard to mental health, technology and health, workplace wellbeing, loneliness and isolation, and tobacco. And his 2023 Surgeon General’s Report on the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation opened up a conversation in America about a new dimension of health — social health — and how it affects our physical and mental health, educational and workplace outcomes, and political polarization. It is this work and the book it inspired that will frame Murthy’s presentation as part of Chautauqua’s exploration of “The Importance of Gathering: In Collaboration with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.” Murthy is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, and he has authored perspective pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and New England Journal of Medicine. He has also served as co-chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Connection as well as co-chair of the National Academy of Medicine’s Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience. Murthy earned his B.A. from Harvard University, and his M.D. and M.B.A. from Yale. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He has cared for thousands of patients and taught hundreds of medical trainees during his clinical years and has conducted research in vaccine development and the…