19th Surgeon General of the United States (2014-2017)

Dr. Vivek H. Murthy served as the 19th Surgeon General of the United States from December 15, 2014 to April 21, 2017. As America’s Doctor, he called the nation’s attention to critical public health issues including the opioid epidemic, e-cigarettes, and emotional health and wellbeing. As the Vice Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, he oversaw a uniformed service of 6,600 officers dedicated to safeguarding the health of the nation. Prior to serving in government, he conducted research on vaccine development and clinical trial participation and founded several organizations focused on HIV/AIDS education, rural health, physician advocacy, and clinical trial optimization. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard and his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Yale. He completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School where he later joined the faculty. Dr. Murthy resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Dr. Alice Chen, and their two children.