Vivek Murthy wife: Dr Vivek Hallegere Murthy, whose grandparents hail from Karnataka, was appointed as a surgeon general under the Joe Biden administration on Tuesday. He had also served under former President Barack Obama and became the first Indian-American to hold the post. Murthy is married to Dr Alice Chen, since 2015. They have a son and a daughter together.
Here is what we know about Alice Chen:
1. While Murthy is a distinguished physician and has served as the Vice Admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, his wife Chen served as executive director for Doctors for America. This organisation serves to improve the health of the nation and to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, high-quality health care. She is the former executive director of Doctors for America and an internal medicine physician.
2. Both Murthy and Chen became Joe Biden’s close advisers on coronavirus last year and also endoresed the importance of prioritising mental health during the crisis. In an interview with CBC News, Chen said that the social isolation caused by COVID-19 "can spiral into depression or anxiety, and this can have serious ramifications on a person's physical and mental health".
3. Hailing from Washington, Columbia, Chen is deputy secretary for policy and planning and chief of clinical affairs for the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS).
4. Before joining CHHS, she served as chief medical officer and deputy director for the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN), according to her LinkedIn profile.
5. Known for her work with underpriviledged people and delivery system innovations to improve access and quality of care for safety net systems, Chen worked as an adjunct clinical assistant professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine for 15 years.
6. She has over a decade of experience in the health sector and has published over 50 book chapters, research articles, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and Health Affairs.
7. She has also served on the board of several non-profits and foundations and currently serves as board president of The Health Initiative. In 2019, she was elected to the Harvard University Board of Overseers.
8. A graduate of Yale University, Stanford University Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health, Chen has been trained as a primary care internal medicine residency and chief residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Feature Image Credit: Office of the U.S. Surgeon General/Twitter
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