Atul Gawande, M.D. ’95, M.P.H. ’99, former professor of health policy and management at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Thier professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, will be the speaker at Harvard’s annual celebration of the global alumni community on June 6. The University made the announcement this afternoon. (Read more about Gawande in Harvard Magazine’s 2009 feature “The Unlikely Writer.”)
Gawande, whose physician parents emigrated from India, grew up in Athens, Ohio. He studied biology and political science at Stanford and then studied politics, philosophy, and economics as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He deferred his Medical School admission for three years to work on healthcare reform in the Clinton administration.
During his general surgery residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, The New Yorker asked Gawande to contribute to the magazine. Throughout the past 27 years, Gawande’s articles have addressed medical errors, end-of-life issues, and skyrocketing health care costs, and have earned him two National Magazine Awards. He has written four books, including Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, which was a National Book Award finalist. Gawande has also received a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
In addition to writing and performing surgery, Gawande served in the Biden administration, initially as a member of President Biden’s Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board and then for three years as assistant administrator for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“Atul Gawande is one of the most influential thinkers, writers, and innovators in health and medicine today,” said President Alan M. Garber in a press release. “From advancing surgical safety to expanding access to high-quality care worldwide, he brings a deeply humanist perspective to his work and is dedicated to ensuring that healthcare policies and systems prioritize the people that they serve. I can’t think of a more fitting voice to inspire our alumni as they continue their own efforts to make a difference in the world.”
Gawande has thrice addressed Harvard graduation ceremonies: the medical and dental schools’ Class Day in 2005 (read the speech text as a PDF file), the Chan School’s 2009 diploma ceremony (read the speech text as a Microsoft Word document), and the medical school’s Commencement in 2011 (read the speech as a PDF file).
Harvard’s Alumni Day will take place on June 6, 2025. The full University announcement can be found here.
