Bio
Physician · Former CDC epidemiologist · Technology entrepreneur · Healthcare futurist
At the intersection of medicine, technology, and public health.
Dr. Joel Selanikio has spent his career at the intersection of medicine, technology, and public health — and he argues that healthcare’s future looks nothing like its past.
A practicing physician, former CDC epidemiologist, and technology entrepreneur, Dr. Selanikio speaks to leaders across healthcare, life sciences, technology, and finance — including boards, executives, investors, and policymakers — on AI, consumer health disruption, and the forces reshaping where and how care happens. He most recently keynoted The Governance Institute’s national conference for healthcare board members and executives.
His career spans clinical medicine, global health, and crisis response. He created Magpi, the first web application built specifically for global health and international development. It grew into a mobile data platform used in more than 170 countries. The work earned both the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award for Healthcare and the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainable Innovation. He is also a founding member of the World Health Organization’s Digital Health Roster of Experts.
Before medical school, Dr. Selanikio worked as a systems analyst on Wall Street. He is a graduate of Haverford College and Brown University Medical School and continues to practice pediatrics as an attending physician at Georgetown University Hospital.
As a CDC epidemiologist he investigated international disease outbreaks, developed technology for vaccination programs, and served as Chief of Operations for the HHS Emergency Command Center after 9/11. He has responded to tsunamis in Indonesia, served as lead physician at the International Medical Corps Ebola Treatment Center in Sierra Leone, and assisted FEMA during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has spoken at TED, Davos, MIT, Stanford, Google, the American Hospital Association, and the Royal Society of Medicine, and has been profiled by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Wired, Forbes, the BBC, NPR, and The Washington Post.
Dr. Selanikio lives in Washington, DC, with his family.