Joel Selanikio
Principal at FutureHealth; Attending Physician at Georgetown University; Formerly CEO and co-founder at Magpi

A practicing physician, former CDC epidemiologist, and technology entrepreneur, Joel Selanikio challenges healthcare boards and executive leadership to confront a counterintuitive truth: healthcare is simultaneously getting better and getting smaller. Drawing on firsthand experience in clinical medicine, global health innovation, and crisis response, he gives leaders a clear framework for navigating disruption before it arrives.
Joel Selanikio, MD stands at a rare intersection: practicing physician, former CDC epidemiologist, technology entrepreneur, and crisis responder — a combination that gives him a perspective on healthcare's future that few speakers can match.
His central argument is counterintuitive and urgent: healthcare is simultaneously getting better and getting smaller. GLP-1 medications are eliminating entire service lines. Consumer devices now diagnose conditions that once required specialist visits. AI is handling clinical decisions that previously demanded appointments. The forces reshaping healthcare aren't coming from inside health systems — they're arriving from outside, and most leaders aren't watching the right indicators.
A TED speaker who has addressed audiences at Davos, MIT, Stanford, Google, and the American Hospital Association, Dr. Selanikio has been profiled by The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Forbes, the BBC, and NPR. He is the winner of both the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainable Innovation and the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award for Healthcare.
Featured Videos

Joel Selanikio’s Speech Topics
Liability, Regulation, and the Future of Health AI
How policy, market experimentation, and real-world deployment are rewriting the rules for health AI.
Doctor You: From Exam Room to Living Room
How Knowledge, Diagnosis, Treatment, Monitoring, and Interpretation are moving from the clinic to the patient.
Platform Power: Why Apple, Google, and OpenAI Matter to Healthcare
Why companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, and OpenAI may matter more to the future of healthcare than many traditional incumbents.
Healthcare Gets Better and Smaller
How AI, consumer technology, and new business models are shrinking the boundaries of the traditional health system.
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