Pooja Kumar

Anne has given us some excellent insights into her leadership journey, as well as her vision for a future of an integrated healthcare system.

Personally, I loved her reflections on creating more diverse teams that can together tackle the big problems ahead for healthcare.

I'm Dr. Pooja Kumar, and this has been a McKinsey on Healthcare podcast.

Thank you for listening.

I'm Pooja Kumar, a partner in McKinsey's Boston office.

Today, I'm joined by Vivek Murthy, who served as the 19th Surgeon General of the United States.

As America's doctor, he created initiatives to tackle our country's most urgent public health issues, including the Ebola and Zika viruses, obesity, mental illness, and tobacco-related disease.

He also worked on the Flint water crisis and the opioid crisis.

Vivek is also the author of a new book, Together, the Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.

It's great to have a chance to talk to you about the public health perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vivek, let's start from the beginning.

Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in public health and how you found your path leading the nation's efforts to address a broad range of public health concerns.

Now, you've had a very accomplished career, including several of the experiences you just mentioned.

But let's also not forget that you're only 42.

What was it like being the first Surgeon General of Indian descent and the youngest active duty flag officer in the Federal Uniform Service?

Real wisdom in your words there.

You know, you started a conversation about loneliness even before this era of physical distancing that we are all caught in right now.

In your new book, you discuss the importance of communities and human connection.

I'd love to understand more about why you saw loneliness as a major issue in health care then even before all of what we're experiencing right now.

It feels like a lot of the journey that you went through personally is now what a lot of us are experiencing through the eyes of COVID.