Marty Makary: podcast appearances and interviews

Martin Adel Makary is a British-American surgeon, professor, and bestselling author affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. He has practiced surgical oncology and gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and held the position of Mark Ravitch Chair in Gastrointestinal Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Makary served as the 27th Food and Drug Administration commissioner from 2025 to 2026. Throughout his career, he has pioneered advanced laparoscopic procedures, including the first laparoscopic Whipple and Frey’s procedures at Johns Hopkins. He also led the development of the Surgery Checklist in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Makary has held multiple leadership roles at Johns Hopkins, such as Credentials Chair, Director of Quality and Safety for Surgery, and clinical lead for the Sibley Innovation Hub. He has published extensively on surgical safety, hospital quality, and healthcare reform topics. His books, including Unaccountable, The Price We Pay, Mama Maggie, and Blind Spots, focus on healthcare system improvements, the evaluation of medical practices, and humanitarian narratives. A member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2018, Makary has been a controversial figure, notably for research suggesting medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he supported universal masking and adult vaccination but opposed broad vaccine mandates, certain restrictions, and booster shots for younger populations. His tenure as FDA commissioner focused on modernizing regulatory processes and implementing AI-assisted review tools before resigning in 2026 following policy decisions regarding e-cigarettes.