Los Angeles – October 13, 2026 -- Dr. Vivek Murthy, the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States, will headline the End Well 2026 Summit on November 12 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and online, the nonprofit announced. Murthy, founder of The Together Project, will speak with CBS News National Correspondent Jamie Yuccas about loneliness and human connection during serious illness, caregiving, dying and grief.
CBO projects US deaths will exceed births from 2030
The announcement follows a Congressional Budget Office projection that annual deaths in the United States will exceed births beginning in 2030. The Summit's theme, "When Does Now Begin?", frames a day of talks and workshops on the choices people make, and the systems they encounter, before and during a crisis. End Well expects hundreds of attendees in person and thousands online.
Murthy to address AI companions and chatbots in illness and grief
Murthy will cover what helps people stay connected when illness or loss changes their lives, what AI companions and chatbots mean for people facing illness and grief, and what support families and communities need. His 2023 Surgeon General's advisory reported that roughly half of American adults experience loneliness. It also found that the mortality risk of lacking social connection is comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
"Caring for one another through illness and grief is its own kind of medicine," Murthy said.
Clinicians, caregivers and comedians fill the program
Actress, writer and caregiving advocate Yvette Nicole Brown will host. Physician Lucy Kalanithi, MD, will speak with patient Jessie Creel and Claimable co-founder Warris Bokhari, MD, about finding a voice inside healthcare systems. Other featured speakers include:
- Palliative care physician BJ Miller, MD
- Author Hope Edelman
- Physician and author Rana Awdish, MD
- Modern Elder Academy founder Chip Conley
- Dementia caregiver advocate Jessica Guthrie
Workshop leaders include death doula and Emmy-nominated television writer Darnell Lamont Walker, grief therapist Claire Bidwell Smith and author Laurel Braitman. Members of the LA Improv Comics will run a session applying improv to end-of-life conversations.
End Well curates program around people close to dying
Executive Director Tracy Wheeler curated the program around caregivers, clinicians, patients and artists. Founder Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider said the conversation about death has moved from the margins into hospitals and the wider culture in the nearly decade since End Well launched.
Summit streams free worldwide; CE credits pending
End Well 2026 will stream free worldwide, with in-person tickets and free virtual registration available. Continuing education credits are planned for eligible healthcare professionals, pending accreditation approval. The Summit also sets up End Well's 10th anniversary in 2027.