A transformative well-being movement
Join this vibrant community to enable us all to feel and live our best.
Led by pediatrician, parent, immigrant, and former Acting Surgeon General of California Dr Devika Bhushan, this newsletter community examines trends in health, culture, and innovation, and shares evidence-based tools for well-being. It also helps destigmatize and shed light on experiences like mental illness and holding multiply marginalized identities — while centering equity and cross-cultural nuances.
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What’s included?
Twice a month, you’ll receive one of these columns — examples here:
🗣 Deep dive with Dr Devika B. The evidence and actionable insights from high-impact topics in health, innovation, and culture
💫 Spread the light with Dr Devika B. Conversations that dispel stigma and stereotypes and instead, spread hope and light — also on YouTube and Apple; Spotify podcasts; Because stigma festers in the dark and scatters in the light
💪 Let’s… Actionable, evidence-based nudges towards well-being, one at a time
⭐ Reader QnA. A space where I answer health questions from our community, which you can enter here at any time — including anonymously
👀 Worth a look. Recommendations for particularly inspiring articles, books, movies, or shows that’ll make you think differently about health and well-being
🌏 Where in the world? An original photo or video from somewhere in the world — to unite us across borders — and open to your guesses as to where it might be
Paid subscribers allow this community to exist. If you are finding value here and can comfortably do so, we invite you to upgrade and get the full experience:
Get invited to take part in exclusive ‘community corner’ chats, held regularly via Zoom, to dive deeper into the newsletter’s themes and ask any questions of Dr Devika B and each other — investing in building our community and growing together.
Full access to every article here — while free subscribers can only some.
More about Dr Devika Bhushan
Devika Bhushan, MD, is a pediatrician and public health leader on a mission to drive health innovation, resilience, and equity. She is a sought-after keynote speaker and her expertise spans trauma-informed systems, stress and resilience, mental health, and gender and health equity — with work and perspectives featured in The Lancet, Pediatrics, JAMA, Slate, NPR, and The Los Angeles Times.
Dr Bhushan serves on Stanford’s adjunct faculty, as Chief Medical Officer at Daybreak Health, which brings virtual mental health support directly to youth in schools, and as a senior strategic advisor to entities that aim to advance health, innovation, and equity, ranging from non-profits to a venture capital firm. She also serves on the national Board of Directors of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s leading mental health advocacy organization, and the California Partners Project, co-founded by California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom to focus on child well-being and gender equity.
As California’s Acting Surgeon General (2022) and its inaugural Chief Health Officer (2019-2022), Dr Bhushan was a key public health spokesperson and advisor to the California Governor. In these roles, she led policy and practice innovation at a statewide level by co-leading the launch and implementation of the $500 million ACEs Aware initiative, focused on healing from childhood trauma.
Dr Bhushan is an award-winning mental health activist: she has publicly shared her own journey with bipolar disorder and launched a vibrant storytelling and well-being platform through this newsletter and a YouTube channel/podcast.
Dr Bhushan trained at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins. She is a parent, an immigrant, and a first-generation Indian-American. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her long-time partner and their son; they are also frequently on the road together.
Testimonials
“I’m touched by both your kindness and your passion, and inspired by your example. I feel the world is making progress every time I hear from you!” -Robert Ribciuc, businessperson, parent, person with lived experience
“This is… what I needed today.” -Vickee Boyd, writer, mother, partner, artist, person with lived experience
“3 weeks later and this op-ed about living with bipolar disorder from [Dr Devika Bhushan] is still filling me with joy and purpose. Some pieces of writing you never forget — they become part of the fuel that moves you through each day. I think this is one of them.” -Ari Bloomekatz, Executive Editor of In These Times
“Dr Devika — I thoroughly enjoyed and totally absorbed your mental health tips. I felt that you were speaking to me. I’m going to work on them all, because you wrote in such a thoughtful way.” -Cheri Weiss Raimondi, person with lived experience
“This amazing human being is the real deal: empathic, heart-centered, and wise. Thank you so much, Dr Devika Bhushan, for being your authentic self and the leader we all need.” - Emily Williams, CEO, ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network
“From your earliest moments as an intern [physician], I knew you were meant to do amazing things. How incredible to watch you serve truly as a beacon of hope for so many. This… will save lives.” -Dr Deanna Wilson, adolescent and addiction physician, researcher, and educator
