In India, the way that people traditionally greet you is with their hands together. I grew up in a family that was originally from India. At the heart of it is a feeling that we are all deeply connected to one another because we all have the spark of the divine within us. Vivek Murthy: Spirituality is very important to me. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person, and if so, how do you see that spirituality informing your role in overseeing our country’s public health?ĭr. I was struck by how spiritual that sounds. One is this idea that as much as we can, we should try to go away from fear and toward love. GQ: A couple of things have come up again and again in podcasts you’ve done. How can we move our country toward a deeper understanding of wellness when we can’t even agree on masks, vaccines, and whether the coronavirus is real? We called up Dr. He has spoken out about the mental health crisis among young people he wrote a book titled Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World and on a podcast episode last December, he recited the first five lines of a Mary Oliver poem from memory before asking how we can “tip the scales in the world away from fear and toward love.” Those expansive ideas about wellbeing have signaled a refreshingly modern approach to the office of surgeon general, but they are coming at a time when our nation remains as divided as ever on fundamental issues of physical health. Murthy-who is still just 44-has presented not the hardened exterior of someone worn down by catastrophe, but the measured, sympathetic bedside manner of a doctor deeply concerned with his holistic approach to our country’s well-being. Vivek Murthy has had to navigate a host of public health emergencies: Ebola, Zika, the opioid epidemic, the Flint water crisis, and now, of course, the pandemic. As Surgeon General of the United States, serving previously under Barack Obama and currently under President Biden, Dr.

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