Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande
Atul Gawande
Born	Atul Atmaram Gawande 5 11, 1965
Birthplace	New York City, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Surgeon, writer, public health researcher, government official
Title	Samuel O. Thier Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School
Employer	Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Known for	The Checklist Manifesto, Being Mortal, public health systems innovation
Education	Harvard University (MD, MPH)
Awards	MacArthur Fellowship, Time 100 Most Influential People
Website	[[atulgawande.com atulgawande.com] Official site]

Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher whose work has shaped contemporary discourse on surgical safety, healthcare delivery, and end-of-life care. A practicing general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, Gawande holds dual professorships as the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and as a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is the author of four books, including Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, all of which examine the complexities and human dimensions of modern medicine. Beyond his clinical and academic career, Gawande has held prominent roles in public health leadership, including serving as chairman of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization focused on reducing surgical deaths globally. In 2018, he was named CEO of Haven Healthcare, a joint venture of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase. He later served in the Biden administration, first as a member of the COVID-19 Advisory Board in 2020 and then as the Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for Global Health from January 2022 to January 2025.

Early Life

Atul Atmaram Gawande was born on November 5, 1965, in New York City. His parents were immigrants from India who both pursued careers in medicine, providing a household environment steeped in the values of science and public service. Growing up, Gawande was exposed to the practice of medicine through his parents' work, which influenced his decision to pursue a career that combined clinical practice with broader questions about how healthcare systems function and how they can be improved.

Details about his upbringing and formative years have been recounted in various interviews over the course of his career. Gawande has spoken publicly about the influence of his parents' experiences as immigrant physicians on his understanding of the obligations of the medical profession and the complexities of healthcare in the United States and globally.

Education

Gawande pursued an extensive and interdisciplinary education. He attended Stanford University, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree. He then attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a Master of Arts degree as a Rhodes Scholar. He subsequently returned to the United States to attend Harvard, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995 and a Master of Public Health degree in 1999 from what is now the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. This combination of training in surgery, political philosophy, and public health equipped Gawande with a distinctive perspective that would inform both his clinical work and his writing career.

Career

Clinical Practice and Academic Medicine

Gawande has maintained a clinical practice in general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, one of Harvard Medical School's principal teaching hospitals. He holds the title of Samuel O. Thier Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and serves as a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His dual appointment reflects his career-long commitment to bridging the gap between the practice of surgery and the systematic study of how healthcare is delivered.

In his academic role, Gawande has published research on a wide range of topics, including surgical technique, patient safety, healthcare costs, and the design of health systems. His research has focused in particular on the problem of failures in complex systems—how errors occur in operating rooms, hospitals, and health systems, and what organizational and procedural changes can reduce those errors.

Writing Career

Gawande is among the most prominent physician-writers of his generation. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, where he has published widely read articles on medicine, public health, and healthcare policy. His long-form journalism for the magazine has been recognized for its clarity, narrative skill, and ability to translate complex medical and policy issues for a general audience.

His first book, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, explored the realities of surgical practice, including the inevitability of error and the ways in which medicine is as much art as science. The book drew on his own experiences in training and practice to examine how doctors learn, how mistakes happen, and how the medical profession grapples with uncertainty.

His second book, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, examined what distinguishes adequate medical care from outstanding care, focusing on the efforts of individual physicians and health systems to improve outcomes.

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, published in 2009, became one of Gawande's most influential works. The book argued that simple checklists could dramatically reduce errors and improve outcomes in surgery and other complex endeavors. It debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover nonfiction. The book's influence extended well beyond medicine, prompting adoption of checklist-based protocols in aviation, construction, and other industries. Gawande discussed the book's themes in numerous public appearances, including on The Daily Show.

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, published in 2014, addressed the treatment of aging and dying in modern medicine. The book argued that the medical profession's focus on prolonging life often comes at the expense of patients' quality of life and autonomy, particularly at the end of life. It examined how conversations between doctors and patients about goals of care could lead to better outcomes and greater dignity for the dying. The New York Times published a review of the book noting its impact on discussions about end-of-life care.

Gawande has also been a featured speaker at TED conferences, where he has presented talks on healthcare improvement and surgical safety.

BBC Reith Lectures

In 2014, Gawande was invited to deliver the BBC Reith Lectures, a prestigious annual series of radio lectures commissioned by the BBC. His lectures, titled "The Future of Medicine," examined the challenges facing modern healthcare, including the problem of overtreatment, the limits of medical knowledge, and the need for systemic approaches to improving care. The lectures were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and reached a wide international audience.

Ariadne Labs and Lifebox

Gawande served as chairman of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation affiliated with Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The organization focuses on developing scalable solutions to improve healthcare delivery, including the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, which grew out of Gawande's work on checklists and has been adopted in operating rooms around the world.

He also served as chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing deaths in surgery globally. Lifebox works primarily in low- and middle-income countries, providing pulse oximeters and training to improve the safety of anesthesia and surgery.

Haven Healthcare

On June 20, 2018, Gawande was named the chief executive officer of Haven Healthcare (initially unnamed), a healthcare venture jointly owned by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase. The venture was established with the goal of improving healthcare outcomes and reducing costs for the employees of the three companies. Gawande stepped down as CEO in May 2020, remaining as executive chairman while the organization sought a new chief executive. Haven ultimately dissolved in early 2021 without achieving its stated goals, reflecting the difficulty of transforming the American healthcare system even with substantial corporate backing.

Biden Administration: COVID-19 Advisory Board

In November 2020, Gawande was named a member of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board, alongside co-chairs David A. Kessler, Vivek Murthy, and Marcella Nunez-Smith. The advisory board was established to provide guidance on the incoming administration's pandemic response, including vaccine distribution, testing, and public health communications. The board operated from November 9, 2020, through January 20, 2021, when its functions were absorbed into the formal structures of the new administration.

USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health

On December 17, 2021, the United States Senate confirmed Gawande as the Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for Global Health. He was sworn in on January 4, 2022, under President Joe Biden. In this role, Gawande oversaw USAID's global health programs, which included initiatives addressing HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR, malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, nutrition, and pandemic preparedness.

Gawande served in the position until January 20, 2025, when the second presidential term of Donald Trump began. After leaving USAID, Gawande became an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's subsequent dismantling of USAID and the cuts to global health funding. In an April 2025 appearance at Harvard, Gawande described the impact of the aid cuts as "devastating," providing what the Harvard Gazette characterized as "a close-up account of the damage inflicted by the Trump administration's dismantling of the US" foreign aid apparatus.

In a May 2025 conversation at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Gawande discussed the implications of the closure of USAID programs for global health, particularly in areas such as childhood nutrition and infectious disease control. He continued to speak publicly about the consequences of the aid cuts throughout 2025. In a November 2025 interview with Democracy Now!, Gawande stated that "hundreds of thousands have already died" as a result of the closure of USAID programs, asserting, "We had the cure for death from malnutrition, and we took it away."

In November 2025, Gawande was reported to be continuing clinical and advocacy work. The Harvard Gazette profiled his activities, noting that he was working at Clinic 7, a medical center serving patients, and described him as being "in the grip of 'horror and anger'" over the dismantling of global health programs while growing "more determined" to respond. He also published or contributed to a project titled "Rovina's Choice," which Devex described as an effort to expose "the human toll of the Trump administration's foreign aid cuts."

Post-Government Public Engagement

After leaving USAID, Gawande returned to his academic and clinical positions at Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He has continued to engage in public discourse on healthcare and global health through writing, public speaking, and media appearances. In June 2025, he delivered the keynote address at Harvard Alumni Day 2025. He has appeared on programs including The Bulwark to discuss COVID-related myths, the collapse of USAID, and threats to American public health infrastructure. He has also been interviewed by Yascha Mounk for the publication Persuasion on topics including medicine and mortality.

Personal Life

Gawande resides in the Boston, Massachusetts area. He has maintained a relatively private personal life while sustaining an active public profile through his writing, speaking, and policy work. He has spoken in interviews and in his books about how his experiences as a surgeon and as the child of immigrant physicians have shaped his approach to medicine and public health.

Recognition

Gawande has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to medicine, public health, and writing. In 2006, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the "genius grant," from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in recognition of his work combining surgical practice with research and writing on healthcare systems.

In 2010, he was named to the Time 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. That same year, he was included in Foreign Policy magazine's list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.

Gawande has been recognized by Stanford University as one of the accomplished alumni of its School of Humanities and Sciences. He has also received recognition from Mass Humanities, the state-based humanities council for Massachusetts.

His selection to deliver the 2014 BBC Reith Lectures, one of the most distinguished public lecture series in the world, further confirmed his standing as a leading voice in discussions about healthcare and medicine on a global stage.

His articles and books have been recognized for their influence on healthcare policy, notably a 2009 New Yorker article on healthcare costs that reportedly drew the attention of President Barack Obama and contributed to the policy discussion surrounding the Affordable Care Act.

Legacy

Gawande's career has spanned clinical medicine, academic research, public health leadership, bestselling authorship, and senior government service, making him one of the most multi-faceted figures in American medicine and public health in the early 21st century. His books have been translated into numerous languages and have influenced how physicians, patients, and policymakers think about surgical safety, healthcare quality, and the experience of dying.

The Checklist Manifesto in particular has had a lasting impact on patient safety practices worldwide. The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, which Gawande helped develop through his work with Ariadne Labs, has been implemented in hospitals across the globe and has been credited with reducing surgical complications and deaths. The concept of using simple checklists to manage complex processes has been adopted in fields beyond medicine.

Being Mortal reshaped public and professional conversations about end-of-life care, encouraging physicians to engage patients in discussions about their goals and preferences rather than defaulting to aggressive treatment. The book has been widely adopted in medical education and has been the subject of documentary films and public health campaigns.

His tenure at USAID placed him at the center of global health policy during a period of significant challenge, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the need to maintain and expand programs addressing HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health. His subsequent advocacy regarding the consequences of the dismantling of USAID's global health programs has drawn significant public attention to the role of American foreign aid in global health security.

Through his writing, public speaking, and institutional leadership, Gawande has contributed to a body of work that connects the daily realities of clinical medicine with the large-scale challenges of health systems design and global public health.