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| Dr. Vivek Murthy on Semafor's Mixed Signals podcast |
It's been 554 days since we've had a Senate-approved Surgeon General.
President Trump's first nominee, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, should have been a bi-partisan layup, but Laura Loomer, the rightwing provocateur and member of Trump's inner circle, launched a relentless social media pressure campaign that effectively took Nesheiwat out of the running for the Nation's Doctor.
After the jettisoning of Nesheiwat, who was too pro-vax for Loomer's liking, Trump nominated MAHA advocate Casey Means, a vaccine sceptic with an inactive medical license.
Means' MAHA-adjacency, however, scared off some GOP Senators, forcing Trump to yet again pull his nominee for Surgeon General.
Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier is Trump's latest nominee. It's unclear when her Senate confirmation hearing will be.
Dr. Vivek Murthy's influence still endures.
Dr. Vivek Murthy left the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) on January 20, 2025.
Though no longer serving as the Nation's Doctor, Murthy has continued his crusade against loneliness and social isolation.
Just a few days ago, he appeared on Semafor's Mixed Signals podcast to discuss his new Substack Staying Human, as well as America's unabating dearth of social connection.
"I can tell you that right now we're pretty lonely and isolated," Murthy remarked to Mixed Signals co-host Max Tani.
Murthy, perhaps better than anyone, is able to articulate what the loneliness epidemic entails with eloquence and clarity.
In this nearly-hour-long interview, he touches on everything from how social media and AI have exacerbated our feelings of loneliness, to the role that government can play in fostering social connection.
There may be a trade-off between cancer risk and loneliness risk.
In an unexpectedly heated change between Murthy and the podcast's other co-host, Ben Smith, the topic of social drinking entered the mix.
Murthy, before leaving office, released the following advisory report: Alcohol and Cancer Risk. In it, he draws attention to the "causal relationship between alcohol use and increased risk for at least seven different types of cancer, including breast (in women), colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth (oral cavity), throat (pharynx), and voice box (larynx)."
Smith rightly notes that Dr. Murthy did indeed "campaign against alcohol" and postulates that the pros of alcohol - which has often been labeled a "social lubricant" - might outweigh the cons.
I've postulated the same thing, most notably in National Review: The Case for Dive Bars.
"It sounds like," Smith continued, "there's a straight-ahead tradeoff between cancer risk and loneliness risk, and that, as a scientist, you're just instinctively going to just talk about the first one."
Good on Smith for mentioning this. What I initially thought would be a purely softball interview, highlighting Murthy's accomplishments during his time as Surgeon General, turned into a rather spirited back-and-forth.
Murthy pushed back pretty hard, saying that forgoing drinking alcohol doesn't necessarily mean that one's social life will be lessened.
The point of the report, as he puts it, was to give people the information so they can make "fully informed decisions."
Wherever you come down on the issue, I think that these are exactly the kinds of conversations that we ought to be having.
Again, props to the fine gentlemen at Semafor for facilitating a substantive conversation, and props to Dr. Murthy for continuing his extremely important work.
We need someone to succeed Murthy at OSG.
Let's hope that we get a new Surgeon General soon. Their work - particularly when it comes to releasing advisory reports that inform the public and start national conversations - is absolutely vital.
That we've gone well over 500 days without someone to fill Murthy's vacancy is unacceptable.
The sooner Dr. Saphier assumes the mantle of the OSG, the better.
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