Surgeon general wants to focus USA's attention on preventing disease

As a doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Vivek Murthy treated many patients disabled by chronic illness. People who struggled for breath after a lifetime of smoking, who developed serious infections related to their diabetes or who overdosed on drugs because of untreated addiction.

"What struck me was that, time after time, much of what I was seeing was preventable," says Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General. "This is the great tragedy of the health of our nation right now."

As the "nation's doctor," Murthy, 37, now has the chance to try to keep patients like those out of the hospital on a grand scale. Murthy, who took office in December and has a ceremonial swearing-in today, says he hopes to reduce chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease by promoting physical activity.

"The shift we have to make as a country is from one that is predominantly focused on treatment to one that is focused much more on prevention," he says.

For many Americans, staying healthy is a struggle, Murthy says. Their neighborhoods aren't safe for walking. Their workplaces sell unhealthy food. People who want to change their lives often feel like they are swimming against the tide, he says.

That's why Murthy wants to encourage communities to follow the example of Birmingham, Ala., where neighbors formed walking clubs.

"They would literally knock on doors and they would encourage people to join them," Murthy says.

That sort of community support makes it easier to lead healthy lives, he says.

"With any sort of major change we need to make in our lives, it's much easier to do it with other people," Murthy says. "We succeed and thrive best when we work together and support each other. When we struggle alone, that's when the struggle can seem impossible."

Murthy says he will release a "call to action on walking and walkability" later this year.

He also hopes to find partners among employers, religious leaders and city planners to encourage the development of pedestrian-friendly communities. He aimed to set a good example earlier this month by leading his staff away from their desks on a "walking meeting" to view Washington's celebrated cherry blossoms.

At a time when misinformation about health is rampant on the Internet, Murthy hopes to educate people using new media such as chats on Twitter and Tumblr. Alarmed by a recent outbreak of measles linked to Disneyland, he appeared in public service announcements about vaccines with Sesame Street's Elmo.

As surgeon general, Murthy says, he'd like to address not only physical health but also mental health. During his Tumblr chat, he revealed that he lost an uncle with an untreated mental illness to suicide.

He says he'd like to see religious leaders "use the power of their pulpits to bring mental illness out of the shadows." Noting that fewer than half of people with mental illness seek care, he says, "that's not good for us, and it's not good for us as a country. Until we get rid of the unacceptable stigma of mental illness, it's going to be very hard for people to come forward for care."

His nomination was politically controversial — his confirmation hearing was delayed a year largely because he supports gun control laws — but he enjoys widespread support from medical groups. More than 100 health groups, including the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association, endorsed him.

"When public figures speak out openly about mental illness in their family, it just has a huge impact," says Ron Honberg of the National Alliance on Mental Health, noting that the only surgeon general's report on mental health came out in 1999. Since then "we haven't had sustained attention on mental health. It's exciting that he sees this as a priority."

Elliott Antman, president of the American Heart Association, says Murthy's focus on prevention is "music to our ears."