1. Vivek Hallegere Murthy was born on July 10,1977 and is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, who served as the 19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States from 2015 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2025, under Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.
In October 2022, Biden nominated Vivek Murthy to be the US representative on the World Health Organization's executive board.
Vivek Murthy was raised and completed his early education in Miami, graduating as valedictorian from Miami Palmetto Senior High School in 1994.
Vivek Murthy completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
In 2008, Vivek Murthy founded and served as president of Doctors for America, a group of more than 15,000 physicians and medical students supporting high-quality affordable care for all.
In 2011, Vivek Murthy was appointed by Barack Obama to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health within the Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2012, Vivek Murthy worked as co-chair of Obama's healthcare advisory committee during his re-election campaign.
Vivek Murthy is the co-founder and chairman of TrialNetworks, a cloud-based Clinical Trial Optimization System for pharmaceutical and biotechnology trials that improves the quality and efficiency of clinical trials to bring new drugs to market faster and more safely.
Vivek Murthy founded the company as Epernicus in 2008, originally, to be a collaborative networking web platform for scientists to boost research productivity.
In November 2013, Vivek Murthy was nominated by Barack Obama for the post of United States surgeon general.
Vivek Murthy's nomination met resistance in the Senate by some Democrats, Republicans, and the National Rifle Association of America regarding previous comments Murthy made declaring gun violence as a threat to public health.
Vivek Murthy partnered with Elmo and Top Chef to inform the country about vaccines and healthy eating, respectively.
Vivek Murthy released the first ever Surgeon General's report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health, which revealed that approximately 21 million Americans suffer from some form of substance abuse disorder.
In 2016, Vivek Murthy issued a historic letter to 2.3 million fellow healthcare professionals, requesting a pledge to reform the prescription of opiate drugs and the perception of those struggling with addiction.
Additionally, Vivek Murthy has worked on the effects of climate change on the country's health.
On 21 April 2017, Vivek Murthy was relieved of his duties as 19th Surgeon General by President Trump.
Vivek Murthy stated he was shocked by how often he encountered people suffering from severe loneliness during his medical career, and argued that loneliness in America has become prevalent enough to count as an "epidemic".
Vivek Murthy sees loneliness as a root cause that plays a substantial role in many other social problems.
In March 2025, Vivek Murthy signed as an exclusive speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau.
On September 5,2020, Vivek Murthy joined the advisory council of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, which was planning the presidential transition of Joe Biden.
Days later, Vivek Murthy was named a candidate for United States secretary of health and human services in the Biden administration.
On 3 December 2020, Politico reported that Vivek Murthy had been nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to return to the role of Surgeon General.
In July 2021, Vivek Murthy publicly stated there is "no value" in incarcerating people for cannabis use.
In September 2021, Vivek Murthy criticized social media companies over the presence of COVID-19 misinformation on their platforms.
In 2023, Vivek Murthy expressed concern about the impact of social media on young users' mental health.
Vivek Murthy has come under fire from Republicans for reportedly seeking to combat misinformation with social media, the Washington Examiner reported in May 2023.
Vivek Murthy's term ended with the end of the Biden administration on January 20,2025.
Vivek Murthy is married to Alice Chen, an internist who trained at Yale, Cornell and UCLA, and was the executive director of Doctors for America.
In 2023, Vivek Murthy twice delivered the keynote address at American University's fall commencement ceremonies and was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree.
Vivek Murthy was listed as one of Time Magazine's most influential people in health in 2024.