

Dr. Atul Gawande was Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID from January 2022 to January 2025. He is a renowned surgeon, author, and public health leader. He was previously a practicing general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He co-founded and chaired Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. From 2018-2020, he was CEO of Haven, the Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase healthcare venture.
In addition, Atul was a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and has written four New York Times best-selling books: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal.
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What Does Dismantling USAID Mean For Global Health?
USAID has historically funded programs focused on disease eradication, maternal and child health, and healthcare infrastructure.
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Atul Gawande: On Being Mortal
In his book “Being Mortal,” surgeon Atul Gawande argues that more medicine may not be better medicine in end-of-life care.