Atul Gawande, renowned surgeon and bestselling author, will be the chief executive officer of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase’s new healthcare joint venture. Gawande, born to Indian doctors who migrated to the United States, is a researcher and writer whose four books have been on the New York Times bestseller list. His most recent, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, was released in October 2014.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, Berkshire’s Warren Buffet, and JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon’s joint company is still unnamed after the launch was announced in January.
Gawande said he was “thrilled” to be the chief of the new company, TechCrunch reported. “I have devoted my public health career to building scalable solutions for better healthcare delivery that are saving lives, reducing suffering, and eliminating wasteful spending both in the US and across the world,” the report quoted him as saying. “Now I have the backing of these remarkable organisations to pursue this mission with even greater impact for more than a million people, and in doing so incubate better models of care for all.”
The new healthcare company aims to provide United States employees and their families “simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost”, a statement read. Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan have said the venture will operate free of profit-making incentives. The three companies together employ over a million people.
Warren Buffet had once referred to healthcare costs in the US as a “tapeworm” for businesses, compromising the country’s ability to compete with international companies, Reuters reported. In separate statements, both Buffet and Bezos expressed their confidence in Gawande to head the healthcare company.
