Joe Scalea, MD, MBA, is a transplant surgeon, scientist, and healthcare innovator whose work bridges humanism, innovation, discovery, and entrepreneurism. A passionate surgeon and unwavering patient advocate, Dr. Scalea draws from years of performing surgery at the edge of life, caring for thousands of patients facing death to develop the Four Reasons to Live framework—a human-centered leadership model that makes purpose actionable and supports complex decision-making in high-stakes environments. The framework helps teams align innovation with what truly matters: family and connection, meaningful work, exploration of the world, and belief in something greater than oneself.
In his inspiration-forward keynote talks, Dr. Scalea shows audiences how humanism can function as an operating system for innovation—guiding decision-making, strengthening team alignment, and accelerating meaningful impact across science, healthcare, and technology. In addition to leading some of the nation's largest transplant programs, his perspective is shaped by firsthand experience building multiple healthcare technology and services companies that translate bold ideas into real-world systems. He has delivered keynote addresses nationally and internationally to medical societies, Fortune 500 companies, universities, healthcare organizations, and leadership groups, and takes particular joy in helping others discover purpose, resilience, and inspiration in their own lives.
Dr. Scalea founded and successfully exited his first company in 2023, a pioneering digital health firm that created the nation's first smart transplant network, and gained international recognition for designing and implementing the world's first systems to transport human organs by drone. He is now the founder and CEO of VASiQ, a surgical intelligence company developing technologies that automate consequential elements of human surgery while making previously invisible physiologic information visible to surgeons in real time. In parallel, he is co-architecting a clinical automation initiative within a major academic health system that leverages artificial intelligence to reduce administrative burden, restore time for human connection, and reintroduce humanism into the daily practice of medicine. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, invited articles, and book chapters and currently serves as Executive Medical Director for a major academic health system, where he advises on venture investment, healthcare innovation, and the commercialization of transformative technologies.
An professor and Vice Chair of Surgery who received funding from the NIH, ASA, and numerous associations, Dr. Scalea was educated and trained at the University of Maryland, Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin, and MIT. His work and writings have been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, CNN, and FoxNews. His TED Talk titled Four Reasons to Live, was selected as the prized Editors Pick on YouTube and launched nationally in Fall 2025, amassing more than 118,000 views and nearly 17,000 followers on LinkedIn where his posts for humanism rank in the top 0.1%. Outside the operating room and boardroom, he is a husband, father of two, and an artist known for large-scale abstract paintings—bringing the same curiosity, discipline, and humanity to his creative life as he does to his work in medicine and innovation.