Interview with Dr. Pietro Emanuele Garbelli, Author of The Doctor’s Future

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write The Doctor’s Future?

I wrote The Doctor’s Future not just as a physician, but as a guardian of medicine’s soul. After more than two decades at the intersection of clinical care, medical leadership, and emerging technology, I’ve witnessed a silent storm gathering across healthcare. Artificial Intelligence and robotics are no longer experimental—they are becoming embedded in diagnosis, treatment, and care delivery. Yet the medical profession remains dangerously underprepared.

We are standing at a critical inflection point. Doctors feel it. Leaders sense it. Patients are beginning to ask questions. And if we—those entrusted with care—don’t lead this evolution, someone else will. Likely, someone without the clinical, ethical, or human lens that makes medicine more than data points and decisions. That’s why I wrote this book.

It’s also why I created the Healthcare Convergence Framework® (HCF)—a globally relevant, physician-informed benchmarking framework and AI/robotics readiness assessment tool designed to future-proof healthcare organizations at every level. While the HCF emerged from my work in Acute Internal Medicine, its agility and universal design mean it can be applied across all healthcare environments—from large hospital systems to national health agencies, and across borders, specialties, and cultures. It’s not just a framework—it’s a compass for navigating transformation with clarity, precision, and care.

The Doctor’s Future is not a warning—it’s a blueprint. A guide to help clinicians, executives, and policymakers lead with courage, not fear. To turn resistance into responsibility. To transform disconnection into convergence.

This book empowers doctors to redefine their role—not by resisting change, but by mastering the tools of the future with emotional intelligence, ethical grounding, and clinical leadership. It also calls on healthcare decision-makers to collaborate—not compete—with clinicians in designing systems that are intelligent, safe, inclusive, and profoundly human.

If we don’t shape this future ourselves, we will be shaped by it. And we risk losing more than our relevance—we risk losing our voice, our values, and the human heart of medicine.

The Doctor’s Future is your invitation to lead this change. And the Healthcare Convergence Framework® is your tool to do it wisely.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of The Doctor’s Future, what would they be?

Depending on the chapter, the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Star Trek comes to mind. AI and robotics, and the futuristic brain, AI interfaces aren’t just a villain or a hero; they have the potential to be both. The choice is ours, but we need to move fast before it’s too late!

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

When I read for inspiration and personal development, definitely, but I also enjoy getting completely absorbed in a great narrative.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

I have with me Climb Greater Heights by Tony J. Selimi and Breath by Prem Rawat.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

I had a lot of fun writing Chapter 6, “When Machines Go Rogue: The Medical Doomsday Scenario,” using my imagination to describe, in three escalating scenes—from bad to worse to worst—what our reality could look like if things go wrong. I enjoyed the complete freedom of creating characters, their personal stories, and an engaging storyline. I wrote the first draft of this chapter in pure narrative style, then adapted it during the revision process to match the rest of the book.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

I give the best when I can take myself out of the day-to-day life, away from my professional duties as a doctor, ideally in a nice location with few distractions: this means I usually “sacrifice” my holidays to write, but I actually enjoy doing it.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Health is priceless. Think how remarkably different our healthcare systems would look if all decision-making were based on this simple lynchpin.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

That they can jump into action and start using the principles of the Healthcare Convergence Framework® straight away to assess the AI/robotics readiness of their healthcare organization. By simply answering an online questionnaire, they will automatically receive a scorecard report with actionable insights.

Dr. Pietro Emanuele Garbelli is the author of the new book The Doctor’s Future

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