Eight Healthy NewsWorks student reporters recently interviewed Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, who served as U.S. Surgeon General for Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, about the health dangers of loneliness.
In this article, the first of three Q&As based on the interview, Dr. Murthy discusses his background and how individuals can combat loneliness. Dr. Murthy launched The Together Project in 2025 and serves as the group’s chairperson. His answers have been shortened and lightly edited.
Question: What is The Together Project? What is your goal?
Dr. Murthy: The Together Project stems from work that I did in office when I was serving as surgeon general, and specifically that was looking at the challenge of loneliness and isolation that we have in the United States. The Together Project is an effort to expand on this work and to bring people together to foster a greater sense of community.
Question: What about loneliness is unhealthy?
Dr. Murthy: It actually increases your risk of for poor mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety and it increases the risk for poor physical health outcomes such as in the risk of heart disease and stroke … and an overall life shortening impact that is similar to smoking or to obesity.
Question: What made you want to educate people about loneliness?
Dr. Murthy: When I was in elementary school, I had a hard time making friends, I was introverted and shy. I never told anybody in those years that I was lonely because I thought it meant that something was wrong with me. Later when I became a doctor, I started taking care of patients and I realized that even though they were coming in for physical ailments, that if you sat down and talked to people long enough, many were actually struggling with loneliness too.
Despite that, I didn’t know how common or how consequential an issue it was until I became surgeon general, and I started talking to people around the country and digging into the science behind loneliness. When I understood that, I wanted to speak to the public about it for a couple of reasons. One is because I realized that a lot of people are suffering in silence. The second reason is I felt that if we could help people understand the consequences of loneliness, then we could start to do something about it.
Question: What can individuals do to deal with loneliness?
Dr. Murthy: I think there are things each of us can do in our individual lives. Steps we can take include reaching out to family, to friends, to classmates, to coworkers, to people who may be struggling with loneliness.
When it comes to building connection and community, the small steps are big steps. It’s that 5- to 10-minute call you make to someone you care about, or a conversation you have with them each day that over time helps build a sense of belonging. It’s showing up for other people in your community, in your life, consistently over time that helps them feel that someone cares about them and they’re not invisible. Together we can create a society that’s more connected, where everyone feels that they belong.
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Healthy NewsWorks student reporters who interviewed Dr. Murthy are Benjamin and Juniper (Alexander Adaire Fit Fish), Yisliany (Yorkship Family Healthy Lion), and Amelia, Cassandra, Christian, Nelania, and Xzavier (Catholic Partnership Schools Healthy Courier). The interview was conducted at the Philadelphia law offices of Troutman, Pepper, Locke.
Explore more from our conversation with Dr. Vivek Murthy: Watch the student-led interview and read student reflections about loneliness, connection, and what they learned from Dr. Murthy.
