Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World

Vivek H. Murthy (b. 1977) is an American physician and the 19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States, serving under Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017, and under Joe Biden. The son of a physician, Murthy became interested in medicine at an early age. As an undergraduate student in biochemistry at Harvard University, Murthy co-founded VISIONS Worldwide, a nonprofit organization promoting HIV/AIDS education in the US and India. During his time at Harvard, Murthy also cofounded the Swasthya Community Health Partnership to help women in India become community health workers and educators. Murthy received his MD and his MBA from Yale University, where he helped spearhead The Healers Art, an elective course on topics that fall outside the traditional parameters of medical school, addressing patient loss, physician burnout, and what it means to be a healer. After Yale, Murthy completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. In his capacity as attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Murthy treated thousands of patients and assisted in the education of hundreds of medical students and residents (“Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA,” US Department of Health and Human Services, 24 March 2022).