The Health 2035 report explores the evolving mindset of the next generation of physicians and how their values, expectations, and experiences will reshape healthcare. Drawing on insights from medical students and early-career doctors across the U.S., the report outlines a future where empathy, trust, early intervention, and thoughtful technology integration become the foundation of care. It also introduces three future-facing scenarios that challenge conventional models of healthcare delivery, trust, and access.

Driven by personal connections

Young physicians are deeply motivated by the personal connections they make with their patients. At the core of young physicians’ values is the desire to help and heal. Nearly three-quarters of young physicians indicate that their initial motivation to pursue a career in medicine was to help others and improve patient outcomes. However, they believe that administrative load gets in the way of physicians’ desire to develop connections.

The future of care is treating upstream

Young physicians feel strongly about the impact of early interventions. They consider them to be key drivers that will make the most positive impact on the delivery of care in 2035. The systemic embracing of early interventions creates significant potential for the realignment of incentives for all actors within the healthcare ecosystem, creating healthier populations and new forms of connection between physicians and their patients, changing the role of physicians in their communities.

The vast, two-way trust gap

Trust is significantly eroding between both patients and physicians. 59% of the young physicians predict that by 2035, patients will be less trusting of their doctors. Of those, 76% believe that this decrease in trust will be driven by misinformation — online and elsewhere.

The burden of slow technology innovation and adoption

Young physicians see more potential in AI for clinical decision-making, as opposed to helping with patient relationships. By 2035, young physicians expect AI to change the way they practice.

Around two-thirds of young physicians predict that the integration of artificial intelligence in the medical field will change how they treat their patients. This is over 60 percentage points higher than the second-most mentioned technology, telemedicine, indicating that this is a significant concern for young physicians.

Future scenarios: redefining care through mobility and healthspan

By 2035, healthcare will be reshaped by global movement and a shift toward longevity. Migration - driven by climate, ideology, and digital communities - will redefine how and where care is delivered. Providers will need to meet patients across dispersed communities, with care guided more by beliefs and access than geography.

At the same time, the rise of predictive, preventative, and precise medicine will shift the focus from lifespan to healthspan - the years we live in good health. Unified data, AI, and multi-omics will enable earlier diagnoses and personalized treatment.

Together these forces will create a future where care is mobile, intelligent, and proactive - meeting people where they are and anticipating what they need.