Indian-American surgeon appointed as CEO of Amazon-JP Morgan venture

New York: Eminent Indian-American surgeon, writer and public health innovator Atul Gawande has been named as the CEO of a new US employee health care company, a joint venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, the three American majors announced on June 21.

Gawande, 52, will take over as the Chief Executive Officer of the company from July 9. The new company will be headquartered in Boston and will operate as an independent entity that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints.

Gawande said he was "thrilled" to be named the CEO of the health care initiative.

"I have devoted my public health career to building scalable solutions for better health care delivery that are saving lives, reducing suffering and eliminating wasteful spending both in the US and across the world," he said.

"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. This work will take time but must be done. The system is broken, and better is possible," he said.

Gawande practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital and is Professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.

He is founding executive director of the health systems innovation centre, Ariadne Labs and is also is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine.

Gawande has written four New York Times bestsellers: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal and has received numerous awards for his contributions to science and healthcare.

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett said talent and dedication were manifest among many professionals the trio interviewed.