Aaron Carroll Explains How Questioning The System Became His Life’s Work

Aaron Carroll has spent his entire life following the instincts Amherst sharpened, especially the belief that learning never really stops. In this conversation, he traces the path from his first‑floor Morrow dorm room (where Bruno's pizza arrived through the window) to a career shaped by a liberal arts way of thinking. Aaron talks about the moment in residency when he nearly left medicine and how questioning assumptions became the through‑line of his work. We explore how the habits he built at Amherst show up everywhere: in the way he communicates complex ideas, in his drive to understand systems and symptoms, and in his commitment to helping others make sense of a messy world. Today, as CEO of AcademyHealth, Aaron continues to work at the intersection of evidence, public understanding, and policy. At its core, this is a story about how a liberal‑arts education can shape a life by teaching someone how to think, how to listen, and how to keep asking better questions. Aaron's professional contact information is publicly available. Listeners can also find him easily on social platforms and through his published work online.